Antimicrobial Resistance: Experts caution healthcare providers, patients on medical advice

They issued the advice on Saturday in Ilorin during a presentation at the Grand Round of the Antibiotic Stewardship Committee programme of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH).

Dr Olufemi Lawani of the Department of Microbiology, UITH, says healthcare professionals and patients are guilty of the emergence of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.

Lawani spoke on: “Antimicrobial Consumption and Prescription Gaps in UITH: Fallout of Global Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) 2017 to 2021”.

The microbiologist said that one of the aims of PPS was to reduce antimicrobial resistance and that the total consumption of the antimicrobial was a critical factor in the development of resistance.

According to him, we all contribute to the emergence of AMR as healthcare professionals by failing to follow updated clinical guidelines.

He also said that regulators regulated poorly while government on its part compromised access to standard healthcare.

Lawani therefore urged all stakeholders to upscale their roles towards drastic reduction in what he described as a medical menace.

Also, Dr Taofik Oloyede of the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, UITH, made a presentation entitled: “Healthworkers Knowledge on Antimicrobial Resistance and Disposition to its Control Measures”.

Oloyede stressed the need for improving awareness and understanding of AMR among health professionals.

The epidemiologist said that renewed awareness would be one of the key strategies of the global and national action plans to combat AMR and delay further emergence and spread of resistance.

He therefore advised healthcare professionals to constantly familiarise and update themselves on modern treatment guidelines.

Prof. Yusuf Dasilva, the Chief Medical Director of UITH, assured participants of the management’s commitment to meeting recommendations outlined in the presentations.

Dasilva was represented by Dr Louis Odeigah, the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of UITH.