It’s been known for quite a while that taking antibiotics when there is no need is not beneficial at all. On the other hand, such a practice can potentially lead to antibiotic resistance – which means that, when needed, antibiotics would not have the same positive effect.
Last week, hard-working Health Parliamentary Secretary Joseph Cassar took part in an activity held on Antibiotic Awareness Day specifically to instill a better sense of judgement among the people about the use, and possible abuse, of antibiotics.
He spoke about a need for a change of culture, the need for people to realise that they are harming themselves if they take antibiotics when this is not necessary. People have to understand that viral infections cannot be treated with antibiotics and, if antibiotics are still taken, then there is a risk that more harm than good is done.
Dr Cassar has been working incessantly over the past 18 months to instill this change of mentality – not only in the case of antibiotics. The health division has been involved in various campaigns that aim to change lifestyles for the better. For example, the campaign for people to eat more fruit and vegetables has made an impact especially among children in schools.
Added to this, he has also appointed a focus group to draw up a report on the primary health care reform which, as reported in The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday, is expected to be made public in the coming days. Even here, Dr Cassar insists that there should be a change of mentality in the sense that general practitioners should once again become the focal point for people in need of medical assistance.
His insistence that doctors should not prescribe antibiotics to people who do not need them is part of the change of mentality that is required for all of us to have a healthier life.
Thankfully, there are doctors who have taken it upon themselves not to prescribe antibiotics when only viral infections are involved. In such cases, the culture change is already happening in families whose general practitioners and paediatricians refuse to give antibiotics for a runny nose.
Children who are being brought up in families where antibiotics are taken only when necessary will find it easier for them when, as adults, they will have to take care of their own children.
Unfortunately, however, there are other doctors who are either “open-handed” when it comes to prescribing antibiotics or succumb to the insistence of their patients who demand such a prescription. They often take an easy way out and quickly write a prescription just to get rid of their patient.
What is worse perhaps is when people go directly to pharmacies and buy antibiotics without a prescription, often making up some excuse that they forgot their prescription at home or that they need to take some pills with them while they are abroad. Pharmacists should resist the temptation of handing over the antibiotics so easily, especially if the same people make repeated requests for antibiotics.
On the whole, both doctors who administer antibiotics with such ease and pharmacists who are quick to sell antibiotics without prescription ought to exercise their profession better. Added to this, the people must have better self-discipline and not resort to antibiotics every time they sneeze or have a sore throat. Very often, what is perceived as an illness passes within a few hours or after a good night’s sleep.