<b>Letters:</b> Changing character

Apropos the news report, “Arbitrary sale of antibiotics under scanner” (January 17), from a life-saving pill the antibiotic has turned into a life-threatening one. Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, expressed concern during his 1945 Nobel Prize lecture that a time would come when it might be bought by anyone and due to ignorance the person ingesting it might become drug-resistant.

The present situation is a reflection of Fleming’s concern. In India, nearly 700,000 people die annually due to drug resistance; the figure is expected to rise manifold by 2050.

Strict norms are in place for sale of antibiotics, but implementation is lax. Anyone can buy antibiotics over the counter. Because of this easy availability, India has emerged as the “antibiotic capital of the world”, with the highest consumption, as stated by Huffington Post in 2015. 

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