WAAW: Stakeholders intensify campaign on curbing Antimicrobial Resistance in Gombe
By Vasty Bala Jonah
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 2022, Antimicrobial Resistance awareness week, medical practitioners patent medicine vendors, and the public have been enjoined to stop the indiscriminate prescription of antibiotics to patients without proper diagnosis and the sell as well as abuse of drugs by individuals as its poses great danger to health.
These are the calls at the event organised on Tuesday by the Infection Prevention and control/Antimicrobial resistance Committee of the Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe in partnership with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), World Health Organisation (WHO) and others to raise the awareness on the dangers of abuse and misuse of antibiotics.
The State Commissioner for Health Dr Habu Dahiru, represented by Dr Anod Abel said antimicrobial resistance is caused by inappropriate intake of antibiotics, skipping of drug and over use of the antibiotics while discrediting the activities of some patent medicine vendors who operate beyond their operational permit.
With the theme of this year, antimicrobial resistance together; focusing on the role of patent medicine vendors in dealing with the menace, the convener of Infection Prevention and control and Antimicrobial resistance committee Prof. Mohammed Manga, said the patent medicine stores which are all around the people and most a times the first contact to patient have greater roles in the prevention of antimicrobial resistance caused by abuse and misuse of antibiotics.
Though there are guidelines regulating the operation of patent medicine vendors, Manga, clearly stated that the rules are mostly breached and the level of poverty and lack of access to medical facilities have contributed to it.
He called on health workers to strictly adhere to its professional ethics by administering the right antibiotics after proper investigation has been carried out on the patient.
Also the Former Commissioner for Dr. Yarma Adamu, Executive Secretary of the state primary Health Care Development Agency Abdulraman Shuaibu, Medical Director of State Specialist Hospital Gombe Dr Mua’zu Shuaibu Ishaq, and representative of Pharmaceutical society of Nigeria Sabastian Zubairu, who were part of the discussants called for strengthening and strict enforcement of guidelines regulating the activities of Pharmaceuticals.
They noted that this would help check the excesses of some vendors and for health workers to stop indiscriminate prescription of antibiotics and the need to intensify campaign on the dangers of abuse of these drugs.
