Medical colleges cautioned against Antimicrobial Resistance

Hyderabad: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued an advisory to all the medical colleges on indiscriminate use of antimicrobials and development of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) leading to an increase in the incidence of infections and avoidable morbidity and mortality. The Chairman of NMC, Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma has forwarded a letter from Secretary, Ministry […]

Hyderabad: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued an advisory to all the medical colleges on indiscriminate use of antimicrobials and development of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) leading to an increase in the incidence of infections and avoidable morbidity and mortality.

The Chairman of NMC, Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma has forwarded a letter from Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Rajesh Bhushan, directing medical colleges to take appropriate and immediate AMR measures in their respective hospitals.

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Apart from having Hospital Infection Control Committee (HICC) and Antimicrobial Stewardship Committees (AMS), medical colleges and teaching hospitals must implement AMR containment strategies like including practical education and evaluation in AMR, judicious use of antimicrobials, and infection prevention and control in clinical subjects in nursing and medical education, the advisory said.

Medical colleges must review and develop curriculum and resources for in-service training of different health professionals and allied services. They must also have minimum infrastructure, manpower and other resources to ensure well-functioning HICC committees that meet regularly to develop and monitor the implementation of concrete action plan for infection prevention and control practices and surveillance of healthcare associated infections.

Hospitals must have well-functioning 24X7 microbiology laboratories actively involved in management of patients with infectious diseases. The AMR surveillance data generated by such laboratories has to be used at the facility to develop antibiotic policy and can be collated at the state and national level to assess the magnitude of the problem, Secretary, MOHFW, Rajesh Bhushan said.

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