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The Ministry of Health said on Thursday that it was preparing a draft bill aimed at curbing antibiotic overuse, which it said was becoming increasingly common.

Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said more and more patients were growing resistant to the bacteria-fighting drugs because of incorrect prescriptions or dosages.

“We realize we cannot really monitor all doctors prescribing antibiotics,” she said on Thursday during an event to mark World Health Day.

“Hopefully, with the [draft bill], we can control doctors’ prescriptions and apply administrative sanctions, including revoking their medical license,” Endang added.

The minister said antibiotic overuse weakened a person’s ability to fight diseases because it would cause bacteria to develop resistance to drugs designed to destroy them, prompting the rise of multidrug-resistant illnesses.

“It poses a direct threat to the effectiveness of many medicines,” Endang said. “[As a result], stronger medicines will be required and treatment will be longer.”

A ministry data sheet citing the World Health Organization said there were 440,000 new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis around the world each year, causing at least 150,000 deaths.

Indonesia ranks eighth out of 27 countries suffering from the highest rates of multidrug-resistance, acccording to the WHO.

Iwan Dwiprahasto, head of the Association of Indonesian Pharmacologists (Ikafi), had more startling figures.

He said 87 percent of patients with diarrhea and 94 percent of those suffering from upper respiratory infections were prescribed antibiotics, even if those diseases did not require such drugs.

These figures were based on a 2009 health study carried out in various provinces by Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University.

“We also found that 47 to 68 percent of analgesics or paracetamol in powdered medicine for children contain antibiotics,” Iwan said. “Parents do not question doctors, so they do not know that these medicines contain antibiotics.”

He said the problem was worsened by doctors’ negligence as well as the ease with which people can buy antibiotics over the counter.

“Both share the same level of danger. Both are incorrect methods of treating illnesses because antibiotics only kill bacteria, not viruses,” the Ikafi director said.

“It is hard to directly intervene [with] doctors prescribing antibiotics, particularly because they can be influenced by pharmaceutical companies.”

Endang said she was working alongside professional associations such as Ikafi and the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) to promote awareness about those dangerous practices.

“We cannot do this alone,” she said. “Patients, for instance, should begin to ask their doctors what kind of medicines have been prescribed to them and if they contain antibiotics.”

Endang said the ministry was also distributing guidelines on proper antibiotic use through state and private institutions across the country.

Iwan said educating patients to be responsible drug consumers was the key to addressing the problem.

“Educating the people or patients is easier than [running after] doctors,” he said.

“Campaigning for the rational use of antibiotics and urging patients to look at prescriptions more closely are effective methods,” Iwan added.

Khanchit Limpakarnjanarat, the WHO’s representative to Indonesia, said on Thursday that the government needed to make major policy changes to reduce the growing rate of multidrug resistance.

Khanchit suggested restricting the sale of antibiotics at drug stores, issuing warnings to doctors and pharmacists and discouraging self-medication.

“Antibiotics are a precious resource,” Khanchit said. “We must combat antimicrobial resistance today. If we don’t, we will not have a cure tomorrow.”