AMS in India

Dr Sanjeev Singh is interviewed by Dr Vrinda Nampoothiri, a research pharmacist. Dr Sanjeev Singh is the Medical Superintendent at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, India.

Dr Singh tells us how antimicrobial stewardship was always a passion of his, so when he realised there was a serious problem he put together a multidisciplinary AMS team.

He shares the important stages he went through:

• Reaching out to senior hospital leadership and AMS champions

• Looking into existing and available expertise

• Encouraging multidisciplinary accountability and responsibility

He also stresses how all of this took a lot of time.

Dr Singh talks about some of the key challenges he faced such as getting leadership involved, encouraging clinicians to change their practice and adjusting their hospital information system.

He also mentions some of the steps he took to help make AMS a more widespread practice. Dr Singh talks about how he helped start a survey that went out to laboratories, clinicians and many others. The results of this survey helped prove to the government that there was a serious problem and enabled him to go on to discuss a disease based antibiotic policy with all 18 medical societies in the area.

In the comments below please let us know:

• Are there factors which are similar to AMS in your area?
• Are there factors which differ to AMS in your area?