NMC issues guidelines on antibiotics and AMR

Hyderabad:The National Medical Commission (NMC) has released an action plan for antimicrobial resistance, involving medical students and practitioners. This "module for prescribers" lists down guidelines for healthcare practitioners for "judicious use of antimicrobials in day to day management of patients."

The module guides students and practitioners on key aspects of microbiological diagnostic stewardship, antimicrobial stewardship, antimicrobial policy, infection control and device associated infections. Training of nodal officers in medical education will begin soon, based on the roadmap suggested in the module.

The module suggests a syndromic approach to treating patients with acute febrile illnesses.

"The clinical history of the patient is essential as it helps in selecting the right test for the patient. Clinical diagnosis helps in predicting the organism causing a clinical syndrome. The empiric antibiotic therapy must be limited to seriously ill patients and appropriate antibiotics must be chosen based on clinical evaluation," the document says.

Explaining the implications of the plan, Dr. Manisha S Mane, professor at ESIC Medical College, said, "The implementation depends on adequate availability of infrastructure to conduct clinical diagnosis and going about infection control. Such an in-depth integrated approach at various levels can be carried out at tertiary care centres that have all the equipment to carry out tests and understand pathogen culture. However, the guidelines also mention precautionary measures that can be taken even for device care management and awareness of microbial resistance at the local level. Hence, the toolkit is a wholesome one, guiding students and practitioners at all levels."

While education and awareness is the first of the action points in the National Action Plan, not much was done on this front until now, opines Dr. Ponnari Gottipati, co-founder of Superheroes Against Superbugs, a nationwide awareness campaign against antimicrobial resistance.

"It's encouraging to see NMC taking a systematic approach to address the issue. Providing practitioners with a uniform training document that includes the latest guidelines, along with a toolkit and practical examples, will hopefully facilitate widespread adaptation. It is crucial for AMR to be included in the medical curriculum," she said.