Khairul Alam: Due to antibiotic resistance, more people will die than cancer in the next 20 years, said the Director General of the Department of Health Abul Basar Mohammad Khurshid Alam.
He made this comment while attending a seminar on Saturday (August 26) as the chief guest.
Professor Khurshid said antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial resistance have become the biggest headache in the world. According to the World Health Organization, the aggressive marketing and widespread sale of antibiotics by multinational corporations is largely responsible for this.
He also said that antibiotics are not only used by surgeons or physicians. This antibiotic is now being used in agriculture. Also used in the poultry industry. Antibiotics are even being used in some cases to kill mosquito larvae.
He said that the Bangladesh government took the initiative to enact the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to prevent the sale of antibiotics in the open market. However, the law can not be implemented by multinational corporations.
On the role of multinationals, he further said that after cephalosporin, no basic ingredient of antibiotics was discovered.
Multinational companies are marketing their products by changing the formulation of these cephalosporins. Because of their aggressive marketing practices, the general public, and doctors (surgeons) are using them. We use them unknowingly, needlessly, and needlessly.