Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an enormous pressure on health-care systems and diverted resources, personnel and attention towards COVID-19 diagnosis and contact tracking and tracing. Antimicrobial stewardship activities have been severely disrupted and surveillance and antimicrobial stewardship programmes have also been deprioritized, delayed or halted. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of health-care systems in controlling infectious disease threats and increased awareness of the importance of AMS initiatives for emerging infections.
The long-term impact of COVID-19 on antimicrobial stewardship, antimicrobial resistance, and healthcare in general remains largely unknown. Available evidence suggests that there has been high empiric antimicrobial use during COVID-19 response. This webinar discussed how Antimicrobial Stewardship programs at health-care facility level can be strengthened to support pandemic response.
Presentations:
Speakers:
- Dr V Ramasubramanian
Senior Consultant, Department of Infectious Diseases, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai - Dr Priscilla Rupali
Professor: Department of Infectious Diseases, Christian Medical College Vellore
Panellists
- Dr Ayesha Sunavala
Consultant, Infectious Diseases, PD Hinduja hospital, Mumbai - Dr Nitin Bansal
Consultant, Infectious Diseases, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi
Meeting recording: