The state health department is all set to take strong steps to prevent rampant consumption and sale of antibiotics in the state. Swasthya Bhaban, health department headquarters at Salt Lake, may issue fresh directives to retailers and wholesellers of drugs across the city and districts not to sell antibiotics to consumers without verifying valid prescriptions. Rattled by the irrational consumption of antibiotics, the health department held a meeting with animal resources and development (ARD) and fisheries departments on

Friday to discuss the issue of how to prevent rampant sale and use of antibiotic medicines. Experts and officials of the three departments in the meeting have discussed several major issues like rampant use of antibiotics by humans, fish and animals, mainly poultry birds. It has been decided in the meeting on how to intensify vigilance on over-the-counter sale of antibiotics in most of the chemists’ shops without verifying valid prescriptions issued by registered doctors. The health department has threatened action against chemists’ shops if they are found selling antibiotics without verifying prescriptions, sources in the meeting said.

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On 1 October, The Statesman had carried a report, ‘Bengal is the highest consumer of antibiotics in the country’ throwing lights on how irrational and rampant use of antibiotics make a large number of antibiotics resistant to cure diseases. A recent study conducted by the health department revealed this alarming finding. Narayan Swaroop Nigam, principal secretary in charge of health department while addressing in a seminar, ‘Sepsis prevention awareness programme’ held on 30 September, had said, “We have the highest antibiotics consumption in the country. While analyzing the use of antibiotics in our state we got this very important innovative data.”

According to a study, the resistance rate of a large number of special category and common antibiotics in the state is more than 60 per cent. A team of microbiology experts of the health department had analysed positive reports of more than 32,000 culture and sensitivity tests of patients in state-run hospitals during the past one year and got the findings.

There are more around 45,000 whole-sale and retail shops of medicines across the state. “We welcome the health department’s initiatives to prevent rampant irrational sale and use of antibiotics in the state. We are ready to cooperate with the health department in this regard.

All chemist shop owners have already been sensitized and asked by our association not to sell antibiotics without verifying prescriptions,” said Sankha Roychowdhury, president of Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association (BCDA), highest body of medicine shops in the state