Study finds high antibiotic use in Indian hospitals A point-prevalence study conducted in five hospitals in India shows high use of antibiotics in admitted patients, with a considerable proportion coming from a category of broad-spectrum drugs with a higher potential for promoting antibiotic resistance, Indian researchers reported in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. The survey, conducted over 2 weeks in May 2019 at five tertiary care centers in India, aimed to collect data on antibiotic prescribing patterns and practices in the country's hospitals, which are in the nascent stages of developing antimicrobial stewardship programs. The researchers collected data on all admitted patients in wards and intensive care units over the study period to determine indications for antibiotic use and the percentage of patients on antibiotics, receiving more than one antibiotic, and on antibiotics from the Watch and Reserve categories of the World Health Organization's Essential Medicines List.