Bengaluru: Days after the National Medical Commission (NMC) warned hospitals, medical colleges against antimicrobial resistance, the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) has decided to set up the Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) Committees.
A few days ago, NMC had warned the medical colleges in India regarding the misuse of antimicrobials and had issued a directive advising the Heads of all the medical colleges to have Hospital Infection Control Committee (HICC) and Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) Committees to check the indiscriminate use of antimicrobials.
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Antimicrobial resistance takes place when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites mutate over a period of time and stop responding to drugs due to which it becomes difficult to treat the infections, thus increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death.
According to a recent media report in Deccan Herald, recently, the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) has decided to establish them in order to check drug resistance among patients.
These committees would check if the patients were prescribed first-line drugs before opting for more advanced, powerful drugs. As patients might become resistant to treatment and would need third-line drugs when they become ill every time, thus leaving few options with the medical practitioners when they are admitted to the ICU's.
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According to Dr. Ambika R, head of the microbiology department at the BMCRI, discussions on the antimicrobial resistance patterns take place every month during the meeting of the hospital infection control committee, further ensuring that the antimicrobial stewardship committee would be established by the end of the present week. She told Deccan Herald, "The extent of antimicrobial resistance has reached alarming proportions and poses a serious threat to the patient's clinical outcome,"
The Stewardship Committee of the BMCRI would consist of 15 members from the departments of microbiology and pharmacology, clinical departments like medicine, surgery, obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics, along with biomedical engineers.
Dr. Ambika said, "We'll go to different wards to verify the medicines patients have been given as part of the treatment protocol." She further elaborated on the role of the infection control committee which would consist of security, hospital cleaning, disinfection, surveillance of operation theatres and labs.
The antibiotic policy of BMCRI came into effect on September 30, 2019, according to which antibiotics were characterized into three categories of restricted use, limited access, and under surveillance.
The policy document states that "The objective is to ensure appropriate antimicrobial treatment while at the same time limiting the inappropriate use of antibiotics in the management of infections by addressing issues like antibiotic selection, dosage, route, duration, and adverse drug events."
Dr. Ambika spoke positively of the policy, adding that it covered various important aspects. She further explained by giving example of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis, a treatment for preventing diseases that is administered around an hour before the surgical incision.
She stated, "Only a single dose is recommended. Prophylaxis shouldn't be given beyond duration of the surgery except in cardiothoracic surgery where it's permitted up to 48 hours."
However, Dr. P G Girish, Director of Medical Education Department, Karnataka claimed that he was unaware of Antimicrobial Stewardship Committees being set up in any government medical college. Adding that a panel would be established in every college, he said, "So far, only infection control committees existed."
The daily further adds that in spite of the advisory issued by the NMC, none of the 17 medical colleges in the state of Karnataka has established any Antimicrobial Stewardship Committees yet.