Alleging that far too many antibiotics are needlessly prescribed in Kashmir, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) said more than two-third of antibiotics are unnecessarily prescribed for infections caused by viruses or conditions that are not linked to infection at all.

“Doctors write antibiotics to patients who do not need them,” DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan said. “You go to a doctor with runny nose, sore-throat, cough, ear or sinus discharge, you will walk away with a prescription for antibiotics. These conditions are caused by viruses against which antibiotics have no effect,” Dr Hassan said. He said ‘every time, you have fever, you are given an antibiotic, but every fever is not because of infection and does not require an antibiotic’.

“Misuse of antibiotics wipes out body’s good bacteria that is contributing to rise in chronic conditions like obesity, asthma and cancer,” he informed. Dr Hassan said antibiotics find their way in prescriptions for asthma and allergies, even though, they are not helped by taking these drugs. “With no regulations, you can get antibiotics from chemist shops without a prescription adding that chemist shops give antibiotics for everything from malaise, fatigue, body ache to headache,” he said.

He said unnecessary antibiotic use has led to the emergence of deadly bugs that are resistant to all antibiotics. Patients are dying as no antibiotic works. We are kind of back to the era of not having antibiotics. “With no antibiotics, cancer chemotherapy, organ transplantation and even simple surgery will become impossible and we will be facing a future where cough or cut can kill once again,” Dr Hassan said. “Not only inappropriate use has helped microbes to evolve into resistant bugs, but patients are needlessly put at risk of serious side effects of antibiotics,” he added.