New rules to prohibit over-the-counter sales of antibiotics
▶ New law attacks sales without prescriptions in battle against superbugs
Doctors have backed a move to make it harder to acquire antibiotics as they and health authorities are concerned over increasing resistance to medication.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention is to promulgate new laws to stop over-thecounter sales of antibiotics without prescriptions and increase supervision and inspections of pharmacies.
There is particular concern about the 2,400 private pharmacies that operate outside hospital networks.
The worldwide emergence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs caused by the widespread misuse of the drugs is also a worry.
Amoxicillin, a general antibiotic used for a wide range of bacterial infections, has been particularly easy to obtain.
A survey by the department of epidemiology at Abu Dhabi University, found that 96 per cent of respondents had been able to buy drugs without a prescription, even though half understood that they were breaking the law.
Dr Amin Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for public health policy and licensing at the department, said that “increasing resistance to antibiotics is a global health crisis that could disrupt current drug systems and cause severe complications in patients”.
The ministry was keen to raise awareness of the risks, especially to children.
People who repeatedly acquire and use over-the-counter antibiotics run the risk of developing long-term health problems, including diarrhoea and severe inflammation of the colon. Despite these significant health risks, doctors are being pressured by parents to prescribe antibiotics for sick children even if there is no medical basis to do so.
“Parents feel their children should get the best antibiotics,” said Dr Sundar Elayaperumal of Burjeel Hospital.
A new crackdown on pharmacists who prescribe antibiotics and other drugs without prescriptions has been welcomed by doctors.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention is promising laws to stop unauthorised sales of antibiotics, amid growing fears that their overuse worldwide would create drug-resistant bacteria for which there is no treatment.
“This is fantastic news. It should be welcomed by all hospitals,” said Dr Lalu Chacko, the chief medical officer at Abu Dhabi’s Medeor 24x7 Hospital.
“It is the best news the Ministry of Health could make because antibiotics are being misused.”
The ministry said it would work with local health authorities to more closely supervise and inspect pharmacies.
There is particular concern about the estimated 2,400 private pharmacies that operate outside hospital networks, where unauthorised dispensing of prescription drugs is most prevalent.
The ministry will also seek to make doctors more aware of the need to prescribe antibiotics only when needed and to make sure they give accurate doses and the correct strength.
Dr Sundar Elayaperumal, of Burjeel Hospital, said the tougher rules were “the best thing the UAE Government had done”.
But Dr Elayaperumal warned that doctors too often give way to pressure from patients, particularly the parents of sick children, to give antibiotics when they are not needed.
“Parents feel their children should get the best antibiotics in the world,” he said.
Dr Chacko agreed: “You don’t need an antibiotic for everything. Everything infection is not bacterial, many are viruses, and an antibiotic here is not going to help you. But doctors are looked down on if they don’t prescribe antibiotics.”
Sales of antibiotics and other prescription drugs has long been recognised as a problem in the UAE, even though it is in theory prohibited. Amoxycillin, a general antibiotic used for a wide range of bacterial infections, has been particularly easy to obtain.
A 2014 report from researchers at the department of epidemiology at Abu Dhabi University described it as an endemic problem.
The survey found that 96 per cent of respondents had been able to buy drugs without a prescription, even though half understood that they were breaking the law.
None said they had been warned by pharmacists that what they were doing could be dangerous to their health.
“It has become acceptable to pharmacies and their customers to indulge in the practice with impunity, and with no due regard for the law and basic ethics,” the report said.
Dr Amin Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for public health policy at the ministry, said there was global evidence that up to 80 per cent of germs were showing signs of drug resistance.
The result was an extra 700,000 deaths each year, Dr Al Amiri said. He said the ministry was keen to raise public awareness over prescription of antibiotics, especially to children.
“Increasing resistance to antibiotics is a global health crisis that could disrupt current drug systems and cause severe complications in patients,” he said.
The World Health Organisation has repeatedly warned about the dangers of drug-resistant bacteria, calling it one of the “biggest threats to global health, food security and development today”.
This month it held World Antibiotic Awareness Week to raise the profile of “superbugs”. There have been predictions that as many as 30 million people a year could die by 2050 from bacteria resistant to all known treatments.
Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. New resistances are emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases, the organisation says.
Dr Elayaperumal said that there should also be greater understanding among patients about the risks. People who repeatedly use antibiotics run the risk of developing long-term health problems, including diarrhoea and severe inflammation of the colon.
“They can lead to a whole list of complications for the patient,” Dr Elayaperumal said.
Dr Chacko said that without changes, “it can only go in one direction and that is that no antibiotic will work. And that is a very bleak future.”
Increasing resistance to antibiotics … could disrupt current drug systems and cause severe complications DR AMIN AL AMIRI Ministry of Health and Prevention