Expiry date for prescription necessary to prevent AMR: AICDF
The Kolkata headquartered All India Chemists and Distributors Federation (AICDF), a breakaway group of the AIOCD and a body of pharmaceutical distributors and retailers across the country, has informed the government of West Bengal that a period of use or an expiry date, on the lines of the use of therapeutics, is necessary for doctors’ prescriptions to prevent spread of antibiotic/antimicrobial resistance due to their overuse.
Most often, people use old prescriptions for the same symptoms of past ailments and continue to consume the medicines prescribed by a doctor five years or six years ago. Using the same medicines without consulting doctors further is likely to create antimicrobial resistance (AMR) because changes may happen in the disease symptoms and also in the formulation’s making as years pass by. So, it is necessary for the government and the central drug regulatory agencies to fix a period of life for the prescriptions by way of an amendment in drug laws, said the association in its letter to the health secretary of WB government.
In the letter sent to the government, Joydeep Sarkar, general secretary of the association said a doctor prescribes one antibiotic for a particular disease at a particular time, but even after five years or six years, the same prescription is used by the patient once he gets similar ailments. The medicine a patient used five years ago may not be effective for his present ailment.
In this scenario, some supportive measure from the government side is required to address the negative attitude of the media that the pharmaceutical traders are the root cause for the spread of AMR. AICDF has alleged that the media in West Bengal is fostering a biased approach towards the pharmaceutical traders and they unfairly spotlighting the traders, especially the retailers, are accountable for the rise and spread of the AMR.
Meanwhile, the secretary of the Pharmaceutical Traders’ Welfare Association of Bengal (PTAB), Pranab Kumar Chakraborthi said the retail chemists are no longer responsible for the overuse of antibiotics or for the spread of AMR because they sell the medicines on prescriptions only. Antibiotics are sold on prescriptions which are issued by doctors after diagnosis. The retailers are really abiding the instructions of doctors over prescriptions.
Giving full support to the government in designing strategies to address the menace of AMR, Joydeep Sarkar said AICDF is ready to organize programmes and seminars to educate the public about antimicrobial resistance in association with the government. He said the recent warning bell given by the CDSCO against over-use of antibiotics with combination of multiple medicines will help to address the menace partially.
Talking to Pharmabiz, Joydeep Sarkar said AICDF has conducted a study on the cause of the AMR spread in Kolkata and they came to the conclusion that among other factors the use of same antibiotics in different dosages for different ailments prescribed by different doctors can also create the AMR. For example, he said a physician prescribes one molecule for a particular disease, at the same time a dentist prescribes the same or another antibiotic for dental treatments. So, molecule based prescription is the best option to reduce the spread of AMR because the traders cannot change the name of the brand they are selling to a low-cost alternative.
The association further wants the government to recommend an amendment in the D&C Act for inclusion of a provision to prevent pollution from drug waste and devices.
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