KARACHI: Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is the third leading cause of death in Pakistan, where it is estimated that around 300,000 people die annually due to drug-resistant bacteria, while AMR contributes to 700,000 deaths annually, health officials, public health experts, physicians, and policymakers said here on Sunday.
Deploring that Pakistan is the third largest consumer of antibiotics in the world after China and India, they noted that antibiotic medicines worth Rs. 126 billion were consumed in 2023 alone in Pakistan. They urged people not to purchase and use antibiotics without the advice of trained and qualified physicians.
“Antimicrobial resistance is now the third leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease and maternal and neonatal disorders in Pakistan because we now have infections caused by bacteria that are not responding to third- and fourth-generation antibiotics.
Abuse of antibiotics by doctors, quacks, and people themselves is making these important medicines highly ineffective,” Prof Shahzad Ali Khan, Vice Chancellor of Health Services Academy (HSA) Islamabad, told a news conference at Getz Pharma’s dedicated and segregated Astola manufacturing factory in Karachi.
The press conference was held in connection with Pakistan’s first National Antimicrobial Stewardship Summit 2024, organised by Getz Pharma in collaboration with Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Health Services Academy (HSA) and National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad.
The AMS summit was attended by over 1400 healthcare professionals including health secretaries and director generals from federal and provincial governments, officials from NIH Islamabad, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, office-bearers of 13 medical societies, healthcare regulatory authority officials, senior physicians, policymakers and students.
Prof Khan maintained that antibiotics are ‘wonder drugs’ that saved millions of lives during world wars and pandemics, but their irrational use or abuse has led to Antimicrobial Resistance, which is now becoming a global public health concern.
“Self-medication, unjustified prescription of antibiotics by quacks and physicians, taking antibiotics for a shorter duration, and the production of substandard antibiotics by some companies are some of the major causes of antimicrobial resistance,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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