Can PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat moment turn antimicrobial resistance into a national movement?

When Prime Minister “Narendra Modi” spoke about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the December 28, 2025 edition of “Mann Ki Baat”, he did something that India’s public health community has long waited for — he pulled a looming medical crisis out of specialist circles and placed it squarely before the public. Whether this moment becomes the long-awaited anagnorisis that galvanises action against AMR will depend on what follows this recognition.

What the Prime Minister actually said — and why it matters

In the 129th edition of “Mann Ki Baat”, Mr. Modi described antimicrobial resistance as a “matter of concern for us”, citing data from the “Indian Council of Medical Research” showing that antibiotics are becoming less effective against pneumonia and urinary tract infections.

More importantly, he identified the core driver of India’s AMR crisis in plain language: the “thoughtless and indiscriminate use of antibiotics by people”. His warning was blunt — antibiotics are not casual remedies, and the belief that “popping a pill will solve everything” is precisely why infections are now overpowering medicines. His closing advice — to avoid self-medication, especially with antibiotics — directly addressed everyday behaviour.

For doctors and public health experts, this framing is significant. For the first time, AMR was articulated not as a technical failure of medicine, but as a collective social problem rooted in habits, access and awareness.

Why AMR has struggled to break into public consciousness

India’s AMR problem is not new. Irrational antibiotic use — often described as misuse and overuse — has been identified for years as the single largest contributor to resistance. Antibiotics are frequently purchased over the counter, taken without prescriptions, stopped midway, or used for viral infections where they have no role.

Yet, despite multiple policy interventions, AMR has largely remained confined to hospital wards, academic journals and policy documents. Initiatives such as the National Action Plan on AMR or the ban on colistin as a growth promoter in animals made little dent in public behaviour. The crisis never truly entered the mainstream imagination.

Mr. Modi’s intervention changes that dynamic. By invoking national data and addressing citizens directly, the message travels beyond doctors and bureaucrats to households — translating laboratory warnings into a public call to action from the country’s most influential political platform.

Mainstreaming AMR — striking at the broadest base

The real strength of the Prime Minister’s remarks lies in scale. No technical guideline or regulatory circular can match the reach of “Mann Ki Baat”. Public awareness, experts argue, will be decisive in determining whether India’s AMR trajectory continues upward or begins to bend downward.

In that sense, the speech could achieve what earlier interventions could not — influencing everyday decision-making at the point where antibiotics are most often misused. For a crisis driven as much by behaviour as by biology, this mass sensitisation is indispensable.

But awareness alone is no longer enough.

Why India now needs a One Health response

AMR in India has evolved into what experts describe as a hydra-headed problem. Resistance does not arise only from human misuse of medicines, but also from antibiotic use in livestock, poultry, aquaculture, and from pharmaceutical waste entering the environment.

This is where the “One Health” approach becomes unavoidable — recognising that human, animal and environmental health are deeply interconnected. Solutions that focus only on patients and doctors, without addressing veterinary practices, sanitation, water systems and pharmaceutical regulation, will remain partial and fragile.

The surveillance gap — what India still does not see

At this stage, expanding surveillance is critical. Experts point out that India still lacks a comprehensive picture of community-level AMR. Existing surveillance sites are concentrated in urban areas and tertiary care hospitals, which may exaggerate resistance levels while leaving vast non-urban populations invisible.

India’s National AMR Surveillance Network (NARS-Net) feeds data into the “Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System”. While NARS-Net currently includes 60 sentinel medical college laboratories, the most recent WHO report (for January–December 2023) relied on data from only 41 sites across 31 States and Union Territories.

Established in 2013, NARS-Net tracks resistance in nine priority bacterial pathogens and selected fungal infections. But by design, it remains skewed towards government medical colleges and hospital-based infections, offering limited insight into community prevalence.

Why experts want private and primary care included

In a recent communication to the National Centre for Disease Control, infectious disease specialist Dr. Abdul Ghafur — associated with the Chennai Declaration on AMR — argued that credible national data must go beyond tertiary hospitals. Without incorporating secondary, primary and private healthcare facilities, India’s resistance picture will remain distorted.

Including private hospitals and non-urban centres, experts say, would naturally produce a more balanced and representative dataset — essential for targeted policy and rational antibiotic stewardship.

From recognition to action — the real test ahead

The “World Health Organization”’s 2015 Global Action Plan on AMR laid out five clear goals: public awareness, strengthened surveillance, infection prevention, optimised antimicrobial use, and sustained investment in new drugs and diagnostics.

Mr. Modi’s speech decisively advances the first of these — awareness. But the remaining four demand sustained political will, funding, regulation and enforcement. Surveillance expansion, in particular, will require long-term investments and administrative follow-through.

The Prime Minister’s words may well mark the moment when India finally acknowledged AMR as a national crisis. Whether this recognition translates into systemic reform — or remains a powerful but solitary warning — will determine if India can still outrun what many doctors now see as its biggest emerging health threat.