Alleging that more than 70 per cent of antibiotics prescribed in Kashmir valley are given unnecessarily, the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday said that it breeds resistant bacteria, which are killing patients.

''Doctors prescribe antibiotics to patients, when they are not needed,'' DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan said, adding that antibiotics are given for viral infections, against which they have no effect. ''You go to a doctor with cold or flu, you will walk away with a prescription for antibiotics. These drugs find their way in prescriptions for viral diarrhoea, sore throat, ear and sinus discharge,'' he said.

The DAK President said every time a patient has fever, he is given an antibiotic. Every fever is not because of infection and does not require an antibiotic, he added. ''With no regulation, you can get antibiotics from chemist shops without a prescription,'' he said, adding that chemist shops give antibiotics for everything from malaise, fatigue, body ache to headache.

Dr Hassan said inappropriate use of antibiotics has turned hospitals into breeding grounds for deadly bugs that are resistant to all antibiotics. ''Patients are dying of simple infections as no antibiotic works,'' he said. He said not only the improper use has helped microbes to evolve into resistant bugs, but patients are needlessly put at risk of serious side effects of antibiotics. Dr Hassan said the misuse of antibiotics wipes a body's good bacteria, contributing to chronic conditions like obesity, asthma and cancer. ''We are losing precious lives due to misuse of antibiotics – we must stop it,'' he added.

''Prescription audit, standard treatment protocols and ban on over-the-counter sale of antibiotics will help to save some of these life-saving drugs,'' the DAK president said. ''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,'' cautioned Dr Hassan.