Bengal govt to curb random use of antibiotics; stakeholders to meet on Jan 9

The West Bengal government is set to implement a comprehensive 'State Antibiotic Action Plan' to combat the indiscriminate use of antibiotics and the rising threat of Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR). A high-level meeting scheduled for January 9 is expected to finalize the draft of this ambitious roadmap. This initiative brings together multiple departments, including Health, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, and Environment, to create a 'One Health' approach toward medicine regulation and public health safety.

The new policy aims to provide strict guidelines for the use of antibiotics in hospitals, specifically for indoor, outdoor, and ICCU patients. Over the past year, the state health department has been identifying specific drugs that have become dangerous due to over-prescription. By integrating departments like Fisheries, the plan also suggests natural alternatives, such as promoting Guppy fish farming in mosquito-prone areas to reduce the reliance on chemical interventions, showcasing a holistic environmental strategy.

This state-level move coincides with the central government's recent ban on 156 Fixed-Dose Combination (FDC) or 'cocktail' drugs. These medicines, which contain a mixture of multiple drugs in a single dose, were found to be potentially hazardous by an expert committee due to a lack of scientific justification. The ban, effective immediately, targets manufacturers producing these combinations without adequate quality checks, emphasizing the national urgency to regulate pharmaceutical quality.