New Delhi: The Government on Friday slammed the report of an anti-biotic resistant microbe originating in India, calling it alarmist. Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that it was unfair to claim that the so called 'superbug' NDM-1 was found only in India and Pakistan.
"It's universal and is found in intestine of humans and animals. It's wrong to say that it's found only in India and Pakistan. They say it's found in patients who visit India and Pakistan. It was nowhere mentioned if the bacteria are found even before those persons visited India," Azad said.
Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi even said that the study was conducted with an ulterior motive.
"Karthikeyan, one of the co-authors, have denied and disassociated from this report. We have to find if there's some ulterior motive of some pharmaceutical industry," said Trivedi.
However, what is surprising is that eight out of 31 researchers involved in the study are from six research institutes in India including Banaras Hindu University and University of Madras.
NDM-1 bacterium is resistant to almost all-known antibiotics and causes gastric problems and multiple organ failure, leading to death. Even the Health Ministry officials say there was clear conflict of interest in the report which was reportedly funded by a European organisation.
The co-author of the study, Karthikeyan K Kumaraswamy, defended the findings saying that it would not affect medical tourism in India as the bacteria is found all over the world, including Europe and the US.
"My study would not affect medical tourism because it is present just not in India but also in American and European countries. The limited drugs are available that too just in city hospitals," said Kumaraswamy.
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