Govt moots plan to check anti-microbial resistance

The action plan will bring together several departments such as health, drug control, food safety, animal husbandry, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, the civic bodies, and the Delhi Jal Board to address various factors contributing towards growing resistance.

The Delhi government is in the process of drafting a state-level action plan to address the increasing threat of anti-microbial resistance (AMR), which makes common infections more difficult to treat.

The draft proposes measures such as the food safety department testing its samples, especially meat and seafood, for antibiotics. (Shutterstock/ Representative image)

The action plan will bring together several departments such as health, drug control, food safety, animal husbandry, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, the civic bodies, and the Delhi Jal Board to address various factors contributing towards growing resistance.

“When we think about antimicrobial resistance we tend to think of the really sick patients and taking medicines. But, you might be unknowingly consuming antibiotics even if you do not take a pill. This is because antibiotics are used in our foods; the use in agriculture and improper disposal of antibiotics means that it is found in our water too. The action plan will address the challenge holistically,” said Dr Sangeeta Sharma, member secretary of the technical committee that is preparing the action plan.

A zero draft of the action plan developed by the 35-member technical committee was presented to 120 representatives of the various public department and private companies and associations in a meeting on Monday and Tuesday.

Delhi will become the third state after Kerala and Madhya Pradesh to come up with a state-level action plan. The action plan will be finalised by October and the implementation will begin from November.

The draft proposes measures such as the food safety department testing its samples, especially meat and seafood, for antibiotics. The Delhi Jal Board will also be testing water samples.

Delhi’s drug safety department has also written to chemist association to ensure all drug stores across the city store antimicrobial medicines to maintain their efficacy, do not dispense them without proper prescriptions, do not provide the medicines without the supervision of a trained pharmacist, and stamp the prescription after dispensing the medicines to ensure that it is not reused.

“When it comes to strong antibiotics that are categorised in schedule H1 of the drugs and cosmetics act and reporting the number of people purchasing TB drugs, almost 80% of the shops in the city already do it. This advisory is to just to reiterate the provisions of the Act,” said AK Nasa, head of Delhi’s drug control department. The action plan also proposes to have a committee of nodal officers from each department assisted by a core team from the department to monitor the outcomes.