Pasteur Institute Shillong conducted an outreach programme in the form of a one day workshop on “The growing menace of antimicrobial resistance(AMR) and our role in combating and monitoring the problem” as part of the RF-APSI-India outreach initiative. The workshop was conducted on the 18th October 2024 at the Conference Hall of Pasteur Institute Shillong. Various officers from the Health Department (including directors, public health officials, biomedical engineers, pharmacists and nursing personnel), the Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Department, the Agriculture Department, The Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board and the Police Department of the Government of Meghalaya, along with officers from North Eastern Space Application Centre and professors from North Eastern Hill University participated in the workshop. The Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Meghalaya, Shri Ram Kumar S attended the workshop online as the chief guest and delivered a speech underscoring the importance of awareness, information dissemination and policy making with regards to improving various aspects of health care in Meghalaya including monitoring of antibiotic use and coming up with a state antibiotic policy. The programme was aimed at creating awareness on AMR and developing a streamlined approach to combating the problem, involving concerted efforts from various departments and policy makers. The importance of this was highlighted by Dr. Eva Shadap in her welcome address. Dr. P. Warjri and Dr. O. Sumer of Pasteur Institute gave a brief report on APSI work in Shillong, stressing on the need for a robust AMR surveillance system.This was followed by an overview of RF-APSI work done in all clusters by Dr. Aruna Panda, Program Director APSI CCMB Hyderabad. The importance of environmental surveillance for pathogens and antimicrobial resistance was highlighted upon by Dr. Shivranjani Moharir, Senior Scientist TIGS Bengaluru, followed by a talk on surveillance of pathogens from clinical samples using a molecular approach by Dr. Mansi Malik, Scientist TIGS Bengaluru. The workshop also saw a very effective and informative panel discussion involving various experts from the field of Microbiology, Public Health, Veterinary Science, Academia and Environmental Engineering disciplines.
