A blanket ban on OTC (Over-the-Counter) sale of drugs and strict implementation of sale of only prescribed antibiotics can effectively counter the challenge of antibiotic resistance, suggested Nobel laureate Professor Venakataraman Ramakrishnan, while delivering a lecture recently at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad.

A structural biologist, Professor Ramakrishnan is a recipient of Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009 for his research study of structure and function of ribosome. Concerned over the rise of antibiotic resistance he said antibiotics should not be sold without prescriptions and also stressed on the need for a coordinated effort from scientist, government and the people to counter the antibiotic resistance challenge.

While participating in the ‘distinguished lecturer series’ at CCMB the Indian-born Nobel prize winner spoke about antibiotics and the cell’s protein factory explaining in simple terms the synthesis of protein in the ribosome.

“I think the sale of antibiotics should be prescription based only. Over-the-counter sales should be banned. We need coordinated attacks on antibiotic resistance. People should understand that relying on antibiotics is not good all the time,” said the Professor.

He further opined that non-profit organizations and the state and central governments should fund antibiotic research and not the private companies. As these private companies are doing research only if they find a profit out of their programme. This kind of approach by various pharma and biotech companies has halted many important research projects.

“The problem with the research companies is that they won’t conduct research unless they see an incentive at the end of it. Which is why I think governments and not profit groups should fund antibiotic research,” said Ramakrishanan.

Referring to the poor health care set up in the country he said the public health sector in the country should be developed in a robust way. The infrastructure and healthcare human resources in India lagging way behind when compared to the western countries. To overcome the healthcare challenges, the state and central governments should develop a UK type of healthcare system and invest more on healthcare infrastructure development.