Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said on Monday in Bistrita that the regulations introduced for the prescription and release of antibiotics are starting to yield results in Romania, adding that the right to use such drugs has not been rescinded, but a reduction in infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria is being sought.

„It’s starting to work really well; antibiotic use is starting to decrease. I want to make a clarification, I believe that people have not been well informed or have been misinformed by irresponsible people, who use for political purposes decisions that are in favour of the public health: there is no prohibition of the use antibiotics, but antibiotics must be used when they should, in the right quantities, only on doctor’s prescription. And in fact, that’s what we’ve done, it’s happening absolutely all over the civilised world, where multidrug-resistant bacteria are fewer than in Romania. We expect that, with this measure, we will see in the coming years, not very many, a change in this public health problem, infections produced by multidrug-resistant bacteria, which unfortunately produce many victims,” said Rafila.

The minister added that an accurate estimate of the current consumption of antibiotics can be made only at the end of the year, but he hopes that Romania will drop out of the top three European Union member states in terms of public antibiotic consumption.

Rafila visited on Monday the construction site of a new building of the Bistrita County Emergency Clinical Hospital, built on funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

AGERPRES