Use drug wisely: Doc

A medical forum held in Port Moresby yesterday has urged people to stop abusing antibiotics as there is a danger of resistance, leading to treatment becoming less effective.
Health Department secretary Dr Osborne Liko told the second National Antimicrobial Resistance Forum that it was everyone’s business to use antibiotics responsibly.
He said there was resistance documented in antibiotics – it could not fully fight the bacteria that caused people to be sick.
He said it took longer to treat people and if there was no improvement, a stronger and expensive antibiotic might be prescribed by the doctor.
“For instance, antibiotics should be used for common cold or flu as it is usually caused by a virus,” Dr Liko said.
He said many people did not complete the course of antibiotics prescribed or, worse, they shared them with their friends and families.
Among the common antibiotics used in PNG are penicillin, amoxicillin and augmentin.
Dr Liko said antibiotic-resistance affected everyone with negative socio-economic impacts and the issue had come to the attention of World Health Organisation (WHO) which promoted the launch of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) global strategy in 2011.
Dr Liko said the theme, “United to Preserve Antimicrobials” was a call to action on all stakeholders to stand together in the fight against AMR.
Dr Tauhidul Islam, from WHO, said infections became drug-resistant when micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses that weakens the immune system and caused people to fall sick, adapted and changed over time, allowing the micro-organisms to develop the ability to resist the drugs designed to kill them.
He said this resulted in many antimicrobials such as antibiotics becoming less effective against diseases.
“Our overuse of antimicrobials in both humans and animals is speeding up this process.
“The microorganisms are clever, we should outsmart them,” he said.
Dr Islam said without working antimicrobials, routine surgeries, common illnesses such as diarrhoea and minor injuries from accidents, even simple cuts, could become life-threatening.
“The costs to individual patients, to their families, to the government and to the society as a whole are far greater,” he said.