Senior Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology's (KNUST) School of Medicine and Dentistry, Dr. Yaw A. Amoako, has urged for stringent limits on the sale and usage of antibiotics in the country.

He stated that establishing severe controls on the sale and use of the medicine could assist to avoid antibiotic overuse in the country, which he regarded as a huge threat to public health.

“There should be restrictions on antibiotics,” he said, adding antibiotics should only be used when needed after appropriate tests.”

Dr. Amoako, a senior infectious diseases specialist and research scientist at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), was speaking at a virtual media roundtable organized by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals on Thursday, August 24, 2023, to raise antibiotic awareness in order to ensure patient safety and the future effectiveness of antibiotics.

He observed that the cost of antibiotic abuse was high, both in terms of health and the socioeconomic impact on society.

He voiced concern that many people had resorted to using antibiotics when they should not have, emphasizing that antibiotic usage "increases the length of stay of patients at the hospital."

Antimicrobial resistance (abuse of antibiotics) is the inability of antimicrobial treatments to treat specific diseases.

It happens when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites alter their properties (mutate) and stop responding to medications, making illnesses more difficult to cure and raising the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death.

According to Dr. Amoako, the problem of antibiotic resistance should be taken seriously because it could lead to death.

He warned the people not to overuse antibiotics and urged the National Pharmacy Council to be strict about how such medications are administered through over-the-counter retailers.

He raised concern that many antibiotics medicines are not being properly stored and managed in various parts of the country, citing an example of antibiotics being found in market locations.

Dr. Amoako emphasized that, given the serious health consequences of antibiotic overuse, multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approaches to combating it were required.

As a result, he has urged all stakeholders, particularly the media, to help raise awareness about the hazards of antibiotic usage so that people are better informed about the risks.