Hyderabad: Structural biologist and Nobel Laureate Prof. Venkataraman Ramakrishnan on Friday suggested a blanket ban on over-the-counter sales of antibiotics.
He said antibiotics shouldn’t be sold without prescriptions and also stressed on the need for a coordinated effort from scientists, government and the people to counter the antibiotic resistance challenge.
Prof. Ramakrishnan was delivering a lecture here as part of the “Distinguished Lecture Series” organised by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology .
The India-born Nobel Prize winner spoke about antibiotics and the cell’s protein factory explaining in simple terms the synthesis of proteins in the ribosome.
Later, Prof Ramakrishnan said, “I think the sale of antibiotics should be prescription based only. Over-the-counter sales should be banned. We need coordinated attacks on antibiotic resistance.
People should understand that you can’t rely on antibiotics all the time to bail you out.”
The structural biologist also said that governments and non-profit organisations should fund antibiotic research and not private companies.
“The problem with private companies is that they won’t conduct research unless they see an incentive at the end of it. Which is why I think governments and non-profit groups should fund antibiotic research,” he said, adding that the public health sector in the country was very poor and a UK type system needed to be developed.
“We are really proud of the National Health Service (in the UK). Poor people get the same priority as a scientist. It’s a great model,” he said.
Prof. Ramakrishnan also felt that the reason Indian scientists were not winning Nobel Prizes was because of the absence of a good work environment. “Its not that if you pump in a lot of money at once, you will start getting Nobel Prizes.
Here the environment and the network where others can help and guide you is lacking. Even if an Indian scientist wins a Nobel Prize out of the blue, it would probably be a fluke,” he said, adding, “You need more Indians to be Fellows of the Royal Society. Currently, there aren’t many but you will know Indian science is doing well when you have Indians getting elected to the Royal Society.”
