Towards rational use of antibiotics
After the detailed note on the antibiotics and antibiotic resistance for the guidance of the industry by the drug controller general of India (DCGI), the health ministry is said to be all set to issue notification on Schedule H1 soon to restrict use of antibiotics. The move as reported in section of media comes in line with the efforts to rationalise the use of antibiotics.
According to news reports, it is not yet disclosed how many antibiotics will finally be included in the new Schedule H1, it is learnt that the government may notify only 40 drugs, mainly third and fourth generation antibiotics. The final list may include third and fourth generation antibiotics like imipenem, meropenem, cefaclor, tigecycline and some pain-killers like tramadol. These will be sold only with stringent conditions like retaining a copy of the prescription by the chemists.
However there is yet another reason for the government that had initially planned to put 91 drugs under the Schedule H1 to do so. Many believe that serious objections from the business houses and distributors expressing apprehensions on losses made the government to budge and exclude few.
