An end to modern medicine?

An end to modern medicine? by Martin Khor is indeed a timely feature, and serves to warn us of the perils of complacency and greed in the use of antibiotics as medicine and as a 'vitamin' for livestock. In Malaysia there are several reasons why we are also contributing to the increasing ineffectiveness of modern antibiotics in the treatment of infectious diseases. Among them are:

• Doctors like to use the 'sledgehammer' approach to the treatment of even the simplest of colds and sore throats. Antibiotics are prescribed the moment a patient complains of body aches and a sore throat, even though antibiotics are ineffective for viral infections.
• Poor patients who have to pay for the medication, skimp on its usage. For example, I know a dear friend, who only takes his antibiotics until his illness improves, and then keeps the remainder for use, the next time he has similar symptoms.
  
• Chicken and Pig farmers who indiscriminately use antibiotics as a prophylactic measure against illness among its livestock.

Earnest Education of our public, our medical practitioners and the farmers should be ongoing..

Timely Caution