Gov't to reduce antibiotics use

By Lee Kyung-min

The government plans to halve antibiotics use for colds by 2020, over concerns of their overuse.

The plan comes amid growing concerns that overuse of antibiotics might increase vulnerability to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, better known as “super bacteria,” for which no treatment is available.

According to OECD Health Statistics 2016, an average 31.7 people per 1,000 patients are prescribed antibiotics a day in Korea, far surpassing the OECD average of 23.7 people.

“Many patients with acute upper respiratory infections, such as colds, do not need antibiotics because the main cause is a virus which does not respond to antibiotics. But in Korea, 44 to 45 percent of such patients are prescribed antibiotics,” a health ministry official said.

Under the government scheme, the ministry will offer incentives to hospitals that minimize the prescription of antibiotics to outpatients, and penalize those that overprescribe them.

Guidelines will be set up on the prescription of antibiotics, as well as a mobile application to share information about antibiotics among medical institutions and related government agencies including the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The government will also strengthen standards of antibiotics use for livestock and fisheries produce.

It is a global concern that growing resistance against antibiotics could greatly increase mortality rate, period of treatment and medical treatment costs.

U.K. Treasury Minister Lord Jim O’Neill said in May that resistance to antibiotics could lead to 10 million deaths a year by 2050, far surpassing the fatality rate of cancer patients at 8.2 million, adding that failure to tackle drug-resistant superbugs will also cost the world over $100 trillion.