Are doctors prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily?

Experts say that while physicians are prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily, patients are popping pills without the right prescriptions.

“Physicians are under pressure from patients. They feel that if they don’t prescribe the antibiotic, they will be blamed if something goes wrong later,” said Dr Ashraf ElHoufi, head of the Hospital Infection Control Committee at Dubai Hospital.

According to studies, although non-prescription sale of antibiotics is illegal in the GCC states, 68 per cent of pharmacies in Abu Dhabi, 78 per cent in Riyadh and 87 out of 88 pharmacies in Saudi Arabia sell them without a prescription. Researchers have also found that poor hand-hygiene compliance in hospitals and the region’s large population of migrant workers could have contributed to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

“Other doctors think that starting a super strong antibiotic is necessary for patient betterment,” he said, adding that physicians should do a risk assessment for patients, investigate and then prescribe.

Dr Laila Al Dabal, head of infectious diseases unit at Rashid Hospital said: “Unfortunately, antibiotics are being prescribed wrongly by the physicians or under pressure from patients.

“Another common mistake is incomplete courses of antibiotics, so the patient might take two or three doses of antibiotics and as soon as she/he feels better, they stop the antibiotic without going back to the prescribing physician.

“This will obviously lead to the creation of drug resistance and there is a cumulative risk every time an antibiotic is used or prescribed inappropriately,” she added.

Dr Laila said that the situation was scarier when it came to drug-resistant bacteria in hospital. “Admitted patients have more serious illnesses. In these patients, a simple pneumonia or urinary tract infection can be a terminal event if we lack the proper antibiotic that can control the infection as early as possible. This can be complicated further if an outbreak of infection with these bacteria takes place in the hospital.”