Indian Council of Medical Research is going to set up country’s first National Coordination Centre for Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance in Chandigarh, which will come up at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here.

“With the increasing abuse of antibiotics in the healthcare system, Department of Medical Microbiology had been working on the proposal of setting up a centre for the past year,” Dr Pallab Ray of Department of Medical Biology said.

“The Centre will focus and critically analyse the use and abuse of antibiotic drugs in hospitals across the country and explore the claims about the emergence of superbug, like New Delhi–Metallo, as claimed by an international magazine," Dr Ray said.

The ICMR also plans to open a similar centre at Christian Medical College at Vellore in Tamil Nadu. However, at the moment, the work is on a war–footing to establish infrastructure and recruit manpower to make the centre functional soon at the PGI.

“The centre’s scientific research work will help the Union Health Ministry to formulate a uniform policy on the use of antibiotics,” Dr Ray said.