Sale of antibiotics sans prescription banned in THIS Pakistan province

LAHORE: The Punjab government has banned the sale of antibiotics san prescriptions across the province, ARY News reported on Thursday.

As per details, the decision has been made to stop the excessive use of antibiotics in the province in a meeting chaired by Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Imran Nazir.

The Drug Quality Control Board meeting decided to ban the sale of antibiotics without doctor’s prescription across the province.

The meeting decided that the Punjab Healthcare Commission would consult with the Drug Regulatory Authority on the decision, while the Drug Control Wing, Healthcare Commission and DRAP would submit the recommendations within seven days.

In 2021, an estimated 66% increase in cumulative consumption of antibiotics was observed Lahore as compared to the year 2019.

According to NIH, a 78% increase in oral and 35% increase in intravenous consumption of antibiotics was observed from 2019 to 2021. Cumulative consumption indicated a significant increase in consumption of macrolides, cephalosporins, penicillin, and quinolones. Among quinolones, moxifloxacin and ciprofloxacin were the most commonly used antibiotic in Region 4 throughout the study period.

According to National Institute of Health (NIH) report, Pakistan is the third largest consumer of antibiotics in low- to middle-income countries. An estimated 50% of these antibiotics are inappropriately prescribed [15–17]. Drivers of the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in Pakistan are embedded in both social awareness and antimicrobial usage.