​The duration of antibiotic treatment is at least 5 days, and pharmacists do not have the authority to dispense antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription, says Dr. Florin Rosu, ATI physician and head of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Iasi. In addition, antibiotics are not given for a virus – they only fight bacteria, says the doctor.

Antibiotics are not given randomly

Dr. Florin Roseu draws attention to a phenomenon that other doctors have talked about today: incomplete treatment with antibiotics for an insufficient number of days can do more harm than good, because if the administration of drugs is incomplete, the infection remains practically uncured, so there is a risk of developing resistance to antibiotics.

“One of the biggest mistakes in what is called evidence-based medicine in the world is the management of antimicrobial drugs – the counter-effects and the most disturbing fact, resistance to many drugs with the result of septicemia, as it was known until now, at the time of the face: sepsis is a remission antibiotics to the population without consulting a specialist (and only for 2-3 days),” says Dr. Florin Rosu.

“Let me clarify: pharmacists do not have the authority to dispense antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription. Treatment with antibiotics is carried out for at least 5 days (if the medical laboratory does not give you an antibiogram so that you can understand whether the microbe – the etiological factor – allows you to de-escalate) – the appointment of an antibiotic with a narrower spectrum of action than the initial one),” says the head of the infectious disease hospital in Iasi

Florin Rose also points out that “antibiotics are not administered randomly; they have their own permeability: some reach areas of the body where there is no oxygen, or penetrate the feto-placental barrier, irreversibly affecting the fetus, the blood-brain barrier, promoting healing.”

Antibiotics are not administered with a virus, the doctor also emphasizes, because they only fight bacteria: “Of course, with a virus, there is often a bacterial superinfection, and antibiotics are also administered. But this is only when it is required by a clinical examination, laboratory and X-ray tests and on the recommendation of a doctor.”

The head of the infectious disease hospital in Iasi also draws attention to the fact that “we are one of the few countries where patients are treated with multi-resistant infections due to the misuse of antibiotics.”

Dr. Florin Roche / Photo: Personal archive

The Ministry of Health provided free access to antibiotics within 48 hours without a prescription

The authorities gave the green light to Romanians to pick up an “emergency” dose of an antibiotic for 48 hours from pharmacies, but put a fork in front of the ox: currently no one can check whether a person will choose only one emergency dose from one pharmacy or several such emergency doses from several pharmacies. Adriana Pistole, secretary of state for the Ministry of Health, says that the DPS will develop an IT platform that will record the CNPs of those who receive a dose of antibiotics without a prescription at a pharmacy, but at the moment no one knows when this platform will be functional. Instead, the order of the Ministry of Health is already in place and will be implemented in 60 days.

Until the final development of the computerized platform for CNP registration, the Ministry of Health relies only on the good faith of the Romanians – on the self-responsibility declaration that those who take antibiotics at the pharmacy within 48 hours will have to fill in on the spot:

“We rely on the patient’s self-declaration. This statement has the value of bringing a person to justice. We all need to understand that if I don’t respect that, I’m not hurting the system, I’m hurting myself. We believe in our citizens of this country! I bet on medical culture and personal interest of everyone not to harm themselves. This statement will be until the computer system is implemented. An electronic system for identifying and alerting CNPs who take too many antibiotics is essential and we are waiting for STS to develop it,” says Adriana Pistole, Secretary of State at the Department of Health.

In pharmacies without a prescription, only antibiotics less prone to antimicrobial resistance – biseptol, ampicillin or tetracycline

According to Secretary of State Adriana Pistole, the order was brought about by the fact that pharmacies will not dispense antibiotics susceptible to antimicrobial resistance without a prescription, but only those least susceptible: a list of 20 antibiotics included in the annexes to the order .

These are antibiotics such as Biseptol, Ampicillin or Tetracycline.

Medicines / Photo: GARO/PHANIE / Editorial Shutterstock / Profimedia

“If you need a different type of antibiotic, we recommend contacting health care facilities,” says Adriana Pistol.

“If Biseptol will be taken from there and further (from several pharmacies – ed.), then at least we are talking about Biseptol. now what’s happening I take Augmentin here and there,” the State Secretary adds.

Adriana Pistol: Antibiotics without a prescription, issued only by the decision of pharmacists, who are not obliged to issue them

Antibiotics without a prescription, in an emergency dose for 48 hours, will be issued only by the decision of pharmacists, who do not have the obligation to issue these drugs, but only have the right to issue them, says Adriana Pistol.

She adds that the decision to dispense an emergency antibiotic should be made by the pharmacist after discussion with the patient, and not automatically.

However, Adriana Pistole advises the population to avoid using antibiotics when they are not needed – Romania ranks second in consumption of antibiotics in Europe after Greece, and over the past 10 years our country has always been in the first places on the continent in terms of consumption of antibiotics.

Photo: Dreamstime.com, Profimedia

Read also:

• How the Ministry of Health put the cart before the ox: gave free access to antibiotics for 48 hours without a prescription, but no one will check whether you will take more doses from pharmacies