AFTER the 1994 Surat plague epidemic, India … has once again gained notoriety with western medical researchers. A scare has been created with the announcement in Britain that a new drug-resistant ‘superbug’, which could create a global pandemic, has emerged from the subcontinent. Though found in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well, the researchers have named it the New Delhi metallo-betalactamase-1 gene, spelling possible disaster for this country’s thriving medical tourism sector. The NDM-1 gene was found in several persons from Britain and other European countries who travelled to India for cosmetic surgeries and cancer treatment, the prestigious medical journal Lancet reported….

According to the study, the bacteria carrying the NDM-1 did not succumb even to carbapenems, the strongest group of antibiotics that usually gun down the most stubborn bacteria. The superbug could trigger gastric problems and multiple organ failure, causing death. And there is, as yet, no cure. The researchers … found NDM-1 infections in 44 cases treated in Chennai, and 26 cases treated in Haryana.

Alarmingly, the study has noted that the NDM-1 gene can jump between bacteria, throwing up the frightening possibility of a global epidemic. In the light of these findings, Lancet condemned the popular press in Britain for urging people to get cosmetic surgery done in India. Such a message can’t be reassuring for India’s medical tourism sector…. Not surprisingly, many smell a conspiracy…. The Indian Council of Medical Research has called the study biased. However, there is no getting away from the fact that India has a poor track record of infections caused by hospital stays. Indeed, NDM-1 is alleged to have developed in a New Delhi hospital, thanks to poor sanitation. It was … poor sanitation at a health camp in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh last year that had led to the blinding of several people who underwent cataract surgery…. Out of earshot of policymakers, microbiologists admit that they have been aware of this drug-resistant superbug for some time. Unfortunately, India does not have a policy on antibiotics. This leads to their rampant overuse, giving rise to resistant bacteria….—(Aug 13)