Over half of the almost 10,000 hospital patients surveyed recently were given antibiotics to prevent infection, rather than to treat it, amidst growing concerns about the rise in resistance to antibiotics. The vast majority of patients surveyed – 94% – were given antibiotics before the confirmation of a definitive medical diagnosis of the precise cause of infection.
Earlier this week, the Health Ministry released the results of a survey conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control, mapping the patients treated on one to five days each at 20 tertiary care institutes across 15 States and two Union Territories between November 2021 and April 2022.
Out of 11,588 admissions and 9,652 eligible patients, 72% were prescribed antibiotics. Of these, only 45% were prescribed antibiotics for therapeutic indications, meant to treat infection or disease. The remaining 55% were prescribed the drugs for prophylactic indications, meant to prevent the occurrence or spread of an infection. Only 6% were prescribed antibiotics after a confirmed diagnosis of the specific bacteria causing their illness, called definitive therapy. The remaining 94% were on empirical therapy, based on the doctor’s clinical experience in assessing the likely cause of an illness.
