Task force on use of antibiotics after 'Superbug' controversy

SUPERBUG

New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) A task force has been set up to
formulate a national policy on the use of medication in the
wake of the 'Superbug' controversy that a new bacteria
resistant to antibiotics originated from India.
The Task Force, which has former Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) Director N K Ganguly as its member, will
submit the report within six months, Health Secretary Sujatha
Rao said on Friday.
Rao said the Drug Controller General of India has issued
notices to the Indian scientists who participated in the study
as it was a breach of protocol to send any biological material
for research purposes outside India.
"There is a screening committee of the Indian Council for
Medical Research (ICMR) for any such experiments outside
India," she said, adding, "there is a procedure, we have to be
very careful."
The scientists have unofficially told us that they were
not aware of the protocol, but an official reply is still
awaited, she added.
India had described as totally irrational claims that the
bug originated in India and it being named as 'New Delhi
Metallo- 1'.
The health ministry had come out with a hard-hitting
statement after a paper published in scientific journal 'The
Lancet', said the new superbug, which is said to be resistant
even to most powerful antibiotics, had entered UK hospitals
and is travelling with patients who had gone to countries like
India and Pakistan for surgical treatments. PTI SPC
RBT


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