You will no longer be able to buy antibiotics without doctor’s prescription. Know why!

Soon doctors and chemists will have to follow certain mandatory protocols and guidelines while prescribing antibiotics because the government is likely to issue restrictions on prescription and sale of commonly used antibiotics in the country.

The move is part of the new a strategy to avoid development of drug resistance to infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, urinary tract infection and even HIV.

This means that chemists would have to maintain records of all kinds of antibiotics that they procure and sell along with the doctor's prescription.

India is not the only country to adopt this new rule. All member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) are part of the global strategy to fight drug-resistant diseases.

While WHO will assess implementation of the strategy at its ongoing South East Asia Regional Committee meeting in Timor Leste, India is so far ahead of the May 2017 deadline set up at the World Health Assembly meeting of WHO in Geneva in May.

The resolution passed at the Assembly, which is the highest decision making body of the UN agency, asked countries to frame plans by May 2017 and align them with WHO's global strategy.

India is ready with the standard treatment protocol, according to Rajesh Bhatia, chief scientific advisor to the regional director, WHO SEARO.

The health ministry, along with central drug regulator Drugs Controller General of India, has already framed standard treatment guidelines, which will be notified very soon, he said.

The guidelines, part of a national action plan on anti-microbial resistance, will present a blueprint with specific norms for doctors, chemists and patients.

While all countries are struggling with the problem of rising drug resistance, India is primarily coping with antibiotics resistance which is posing an increasing threat to treating infectious diseases, as well as undermining many other advances in medicine.

It is important to note that over 700,000 deaths each year are attributed to drug resistance. In India, an additional two million lives can be lost by 2050 due to drug resistance.

For instance, while India accounts for the highest number of tuberculosis cases, it is also the hub of multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. Out of the estimated global annual incidence of 9 million tuberculosis cases, India accounts for 2.3 million.

Apart from the standard protocol, WHO's global plan sets out five key objectives:
1. Improve awareness
2. Understanding of anti-microbial resistance
3. Strengthen surveillance and research
4. Reduce incidence of infection, optimize use of anti-microbial medicines, and
5. Ensure sustainable investment in countering antimicrobial resistance.

(Image: Indiatimes)