Shortage Of Drugs Cause Antimicrobial Resistance

Tumelo Mouwane | Monday May 15, 2017 16:15

This was said by the chief pharmacist at Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital, Mpho Mabuse in an interview on the sidelines of the Global Hands Washing Day commemoration held in Lobatse on Friday.  The Global Hands Washing Day is this year held under the theme, ‘Fight antibiotics resistance - it’s in your hands’.

Mabuse said if the prescribed drugs are out of stock they will be forced to use the secondly prioritised prescriptions, which may cause AMR. She said patients will then be likely to build resistance to medication due to their bodies’ reaction to alternative medications.

“We get all our medication from the CMS including antimicrobials so if they are out of stock you find out that you are forced to use a drug that is available instead of using the prioritised antimicrobial. “The second prioritised drug may end up building AMR because of the out-of-stock situation.

You stick to the treatment guideline, so if the treatment guideline says use amoxycillin which is a narrow spectrum and it is not there, you get to the next drug which is maybe a ‘broad spectrum” which may cause antimicrobial resistance.” she said.

Mabuse further said broad spectrum treatments are normally used for serious conditions “hence they will affect the reaction of the body to drugs used for minor conditions.”

AMR is the ability of a microorganism (like bacteria, viruses, and some parasites) to stop an antimicrobial (such as antibiotics and antivirals from working against it. As a result, standard treatments become ineffective, infections persist and may spread to others.

At the event, medical practitioners and the public in general were reminded of the importance of proper hand hygiene to avoid transmission of infections from one patient to the other.