Infections caused by superbugs pushing families into debt: ICMR study

Antimicrobial resistance remains one of the most pressing global health challenges, threatening to reverse decades of medical progress. A recent study conducted across eight tertiary care hospitals in India, including government, private, and trust hospitals, highlighted the economic burden of AMR infections. These hospitals, part of the Indian Council of Medical Research's Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network, followed standardised protocols for blood culture sensitivity testing. The research was published in the peer-reviewed British Medical Journal in December and saw several institutions participating such as the National AIDS Research Institute, Pune; Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry; Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; Apollo Hospital, Chennai; PD Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai; and Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram. THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF AMR INFECTIONS The study revealed a stark difference in treatment costs between resistant and non-resistant infections.