Health Minister Veena George has called for the participation of more hospitals in the State in the Kerala Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (KARS-NET), for improved antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance and estimation, to detect emerging drug resistance and to improve rational antibiotic use in all hospitals.
Replying to a calling attention motion by E. Chandrasekharan in the Assembly on Friday on the emergence of AMR as a major issue in the State, the Minister said that though Kerala recognised the problem of rising AMR and had taken several steps to raise awareness of the AMR and encourage rational antibiotic prescription policy, so far, only 40 private hospitals in the State had joined KARS-NET.
Ms. George claimed that if hospitals continued to stay away from becoming part of the AMR surveillance network, they would be giving room for suspicion that antibiotic abuse was rampant in these institutions. Hospitals should voluntarily join the surveillance network and aid the government’s efforts to bring down the AMR. She appealed to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and other professional organisations to encourage hospitals to join the AMR surveillance network.
Ms. George detailed the initiatives taken up by the Health department to tackle the AMR, including the promotion of rational antibiotic therapy in hospitals, monitoring antibiotic use in hospitals, and antibiotic stewardship programme. Pharmacies had been warned of stringent action if antibiotics were sold without prescriptions.
The government had started the AMR surveillance labs in 11 districts, and all family health centres (FHCs) would be made antibiotic-smart hospitals by the end of 2024, she said.
The superintendents of all hospitals had been asked to ensure that a prescription audit was conducted in the respective institutions every month without fail, Ms. George said in the Assembly.
