An antibiotic stewardship programme will be introduced to public hospitals to control the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance, the Hospital Authority says.

Jointly launched by the authority and the Centre for Health Protection, the Health Protection Programme on Antimicrobial Resistance aims to optimise the selection and use of antibiotics.

The authority's director Dr Cheung Wai-lun said today antibiotic resistance is getting more serious and has become a worldwide concern.

An antibiotic stewardship programme implementation committee has been established to steer and develop strategies for containing antibiotic resistance. Clinical guidelines on the use of antibiotics have been promulgated to clinicians as a guide. It will monitor and promote the prudent use of antibiotics at public hospitals, and evaluate the programme's progress.

Teams formed

Multidisciplinary antibiotic stewardship teams have been formed to construct and manage an antibiotic usage and resistance database. They are also responsible for managing the audit of prescriptions for antibiotics based on established guidelines and providing education to, and collecting feedback from, clinicians.

Eight types of commonly used antibiotics have been chosen as targets for monitoring and auditing, while four common groups of drug-resistance bacteria will be under close surveillance.

Dr Cheung said a standard reporting mechanism is in place to capture and analyse specific data on sensitivity and resistance patterns for organisms isolated in different types of clinical specimens.

On the community front, the Centre for Health Protection's Head of Infection Control Dr Raymond Yung said there has been close liaison with the Medical Association in the planning and implementation of the programme.

To date, 60 private practitioners have joined the programme. A monitoring mechanism CAUSE (Community Antibiotic Use Surveillance Exercise) has been established for general practitioners to report their prescription of antibiotics for tracking and analysis.

Dr Yung said the centre is looking forward to collaborating with the private sector to enlist more practitioners. There will also be a series of public education programmes to enhance awareness and solicit community support for the proper use of antibiotics.