PERCEIVED as a cure-all for a variety of illnesses, it is ironic that the very medicines that were once considered miracle drugs should now be losing their potency. As this newspaper pointed out recently in a special report, antibiotics — used in the treatment of bacterial infection — are increasingly failing to kill off germs whose resistance to medication has developed over decades of misuse of antibacterial therapy. The purchase of medicine without a doctor’s prescription — especially seen in Pakistan — misdiagnosis, misinformation and incomplete treatment, have all contributed to growing drug resistance which has become difficult to combat. So why do so many medical practitioners in the country — even those working at well-known hospitals — continue to prescribe antibiotics when this therapy is not required? Often, they cede to their patients’ demand for antibiotics. In other instances, they are given incentives by pharmaceutical companies for promoting certain medicines. Urgent action is required in both cases. Creating awareness by giving the public more information on antibiotics and the dangers of their misuse is as vital as checking the unholy nexus between pharmaceutical companies and doctors.

Able to find new ways of defying treatment, bacteria can transfer drug-resistant genetic material to other superbugs in the human body. The rise of multidrug resistant bacteria threatens to derail efforts to treat and eradicate diseases such as tuberculosis. According to a report in the Lancet Respiratory Medical Journal, one in five cases globally is resistant to one of the three main TB drugs. In Pakistan — among the six countries that account for 60pc of the total number of global cases — drug-resistant TB is not only prevalent but also easily transmissible and expensive to treat. Unfortunately, pharmaceuticals here refuse to manufacture new antibiotics because these drugs would not be economically viable. With intelligent superbugs battling conventional drug regimes, medical research must work at breakneck speed to find new cures for old infections. In this fight against bacteria, the first step for the health authorities would be to collect official data on drug-resistant cases from public and private hospitals to assess the threat level. Diverse interventions including awareness campaigns and new diagnostic technology should follow. If drugs lose their efficacy, then even key medical procedures — joint replacements, C-sections and organ transplants — would be dangerous to perform. All this means we critically need to regulate the use of antibiotics and have laws in place to curtail malpractices.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2017