The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has set up a working group of experts to formulate Punjab’s first antibiotics policy which would propose guidelines to tackle the misuse of antibiotics. The working group will be headed by Shalamar Medical & Dental College’s Pathology Professor Dr Maryam Riaz Tarar, whereas UHS Family Medicine Department Head Professor Dr Abdul Nasir Shah will be the secretary. Addressing a consultative meeting of representatives of around 80 affiliated teaching hospitals on Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) on Friday, UHS Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Javed Akram said that antibiotics were used to fight child mortality, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases, but “if those drugs stop working, those gains are very vulnerable”. “We have over-used them massively and the more we use antibiotics, the more quickly they become less effective,” UHC VC Professor Dr Javed Akram further said that antimicrobial resistance is “a grave threat to human health”. He highlighted the need to have an indigenous system of policies and guidelines to control HAIs and antibiotic overuse within hospitals. Aiming at curtailing injudicious use of antibiotics, the UHS vice chancellor hinted at incentivising the development and adoption of effective clinical approaches that could improve patient care and reduce the high burden of HAIs within Punjab as well as nationwide. Regarding high mortality attributed to HAIs and practices associated with it, Professor Dr Javed Akram urged affiliated institutions to take a lead role with assurance to extend all out support and facilitation from the UHS. Sharing his academic plans, Dr Javed Akram announced degree level courses in Health Administration and Medical Journalism besides a conference on the scope of health improvements in relation to antibiotic stewardship initiative. He vowed to undertake nursing curriculum changes based on clinical data on HAIs so that higher quality graduates could deliver better clinical practices. All participants including senior medics from medical and dental institutions affiliated with UHS, hospital administrators and staff, and representatives from Punjab Health Care Commission, agreed on the urgency to have a standardised model of health care aimed at reducing high mortality and life-long complications associated with HAIs. There was a consensus on the need to develop evidence-based guidelines and procedures despite numerous constraints in both public and private sector health institutions. The envisaged antibiotic stewardship initiative also sought to enlist professionals from all health-related disciplines to share experiences and formulate impactful, multidisciplinary practices that could be facilitated by IT infrastructure at UHS. Published in Daily Times, August 18th 2018.