Authorities are stepping up efforts to reduce the widespread misuse of antibiotics that is leading to rising levels of resistance across the country. New, tougher regulations took effect Wednesday.
Doctors must now carry out blood tests to ensure that a patient’s symptoms are really caused by bacterial infection before prescribing antibiotics.
Meanwhile, draft legislation proposes restrictions on who can prescribe what kind of antibiotics. Top-level hospitals would be allowed to purchase 50 types of antibiotics. Hospitals at level two would be allowed 35 kinds. The ministry estimates that an average of 138 grams of antibiotics is used per person in China each year, nearly 10 times the amount in the United States. It’s believed that at least 80 percent of antibiotic use on the mainland is not necessary.