Do Doctors Overprescribe Antibiotics?

At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Stanley Bergman, chairman and chief executive officer of Melville's Henry Schein, Inc., presented a frightening scenario in which society becomes completely resistant to antibiotics.

He cited that doctors in India have already reported recent cases of what the medical world calls "Totally Drug Resistant" tuberculosis. In other words, none of the antibiotics available today are effective in treating this particular strain of TB. What could be the future result?

"Pneumonia could become a mass killer, childbirth could become a potentially life threatening event, incurable tuberculosis could return us to the days of Mimi in "La Boheme," he later posted in a Huffington Post blog.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos Klosters, Switzerland, he presented the potential global impact of a world without effective antibiotics.

Bergman participated in a public session entitled, "What if all known antibiotics lost their effectiveness?" His remarks highlighted the global public health, economic, and social ramifications of the hypothetical scenario of a world without effective antibiotics. 

He discussed the role of the health care industry in response to this type of scenario, including the challenges of likely supply chain breakdowns and major business impacts, noting that these are similar to the challenges that come into play in society's response to natural disasters and pandemics, and the very issues that Henry Schein Cares, the Company's global corporate social responsibility program, is working hard to overcome through collaborative public-private partnerships.

To prevent this disastrous hypothetical scenario, Bergman called for the strengthening of public-private collaboration to promote the appropriate use of antibiotics, promotion of vaccines as an antibiotic resistance prevention tool, and vigorous support for research and development to create new and better antibiotics.

"We cannot afford to wait for this potential nightmare scenario to take place before we act. Clearly, all sectors, including governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, academia, and the private sector, have an essential role to play. This is a job for all of us and it must begin now," he said.

Since 2005, Henry Schein has been a member of the World Economic Forum, an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Bergman is a member of the World Economic Forum's Health Care Governors, a group of leaders in the health care industry concerned with issues ranging from access to care to pandemic and disease and other pressing issues that face the industry.

As an active member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Disaster Management, he has met regularly over the past year with other experts from private industry, NGOs, intergovernmental organizations, and academia to discuss ways to address the challenges that face the world in managing natural disasters and minimizing their impact.