The Union Health Ministry is considering a new “National Antibiotics Policy” to handle increasing antibiotics resistance. The policy is on anvil at a time when India has failed to respond to the urgent need to regulate the sale and use of antibiotics, track the incidence of resistance or improve sanitation.
Key points on the proposed National Antibiotics Policy:
- Intends to ban on the counter sale of antibiotics and to use high end antibiotics only in tertiary care centres.
- It will aim to prevent the further development of resistant strains.
- It ideates to establish a national antibiotic resistance surveillance system will be established with representation from all regions in the country, government and private hospitals.