Ludhiana News/SPS Apollo Hospitals Ludhiana launches Antibiotic awareness drive

Ludhiana, November 19, 2013: SPS Apollo Hospitals launched the antibiotic awareness campaign. The campaign was launched by addressing a group of 120 doctors, nurses and patients. The theme banner “Bugs are SMART, Let’s get Smarter” was unveiled by the Managing Director, Jugdeip Singh SPS Apollo Hospitals Ludhiana.
Talking about antibiotics, Dr. Muktanjali Arya – Senior Consultant, Microbiology said, “Antibiotics are one of the most commonly misused drugs worldwide as few people realise the significance of their judicious use. With over the counter availability of antibiotics in India, there is usually no control on the sale of these drugs. Therefore, anyone with even a meager knowledge of antibiotic can easily buy it from a chemist and use it without consulting a doctor”
 The most common indications for which these drugs are misused are viral infections such as cough, common cold, upper respiratory tract infections, fever due to any cause etc. It is equally important for doctors as well as patients to realize that antibiotics are not the answer for each disease. The spreading resistance of bacteria against antibiotics is a global challenge as the pharmaceutical industry has no new antibiotic in the pipeline and treating infections in the future is going to be a difficult task.”
Also present on the occasion, Jugdiep Singh- Managing Director, SPS Apollo Hospitals, added that, “At SPS Apollo Hospital, a great emphasis is laid on the rational and judicious use of antibiotics. To reemphasize this fact an Antibiotic awareness drive with the theme “Bugs are SMART, Let’s get SMARTER” is being launched at the hospital, where Antibiotic Stewardship program is already in place.”
This campaign aims at encouraging rational use of antibiotics. Increasing antibiotic resistance is a global public health issue which needs to be tackled at local, national and global levels. So the need of the hour is to slow the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. But this requires commitment. So our consultants took a pledge to use antibiotics responsibly and prevent misuse.