The silent healthcare crisis when doctors overprescribe

Doctors themselves often forget the basic tenet of prescribing anti-infectious agents to patients—that antibiotics work against bacteria, not viruses.

A few weeks ago, the city where I work was gripped by a non-COVID viral flu. Men, women and children developed fever for a day, which was followed by disabling fatigue and an annoying dry cough that bound them to their homes. The cough was far worse than the one I had seen in my patients during the last significant wave of COVID-19. This starts late at night, makes you lose sleep and keeps you groggy throughout the day. The general paediatric and adult outpatient and in-patient department services were stretched to their limits, and, intriguingly, so were my own …

Author

Cyriac Abby Philips

Cyriac Abby Philips is a highly cited, acclaimed and award-winning liver disease specialist and clinician-scientist based at The Liver Institute, Rajagiri Hospital, Kochi. His seminal research includes the introduction of healthy donor stool transplant for patients battling severe alcohol-related liver disease. He has also authored disruptive peer-reviewed publications on Ayush-related liver injury and herbal and dietary supplements.

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