<p>Bengaluru: Despite medical guidelines recommending Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and zinc for treating child diarrhoea, most doctors in Karnataka continue to prescribe antibiotics instead, a recent study has found.</p>.<p>The study, titled 'Child Diarrhoea: Experimental Evidence from India', sent trained patients to 129 randomly selected doctors in Karnataka. It found that only 24% prescribed ORS, while 58.9% gave antibiotics. Zinc was prescribed in 5.4% of cases, and just 2.3% of patients received both ORS and zinc.</p>.<p>More than 2,000 providers across 253 medium-sized towns in Karnataka and Bihar participated in the study.</p>.Karnataka health officials uncover prenatal sex determination racket in inter-state decoy operation.<p>The Indian Academy of Paediatrics recommends ORS combined with zinc as the standard treatment for rotavirus infections, and no antibiotics. Rotavirus is the most common cause of child diarrhoea. Karnataka reported 64,229 cases of child diarrhoea and two deaths from Acute Diarrhoeal Disease (ADD) in the first few months of 2025.</p>.<p>"Most children with diarrhoea visit a health care provider for treatment, and many of these children still do not receive ORS,” said Arnab Mukherjee, Professor of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and one of the researchers.</p>.<p>Doctors often prescribe antibiotics instead of ORS, which fails to address dehydration and does not work against common viral diarrhoea pathogens, he added.</p>.<p>“Doctors usually prefer antibiotics over ORS as it provides immediate relief, but antibiotics usually make children weaker and take time for them to regain strength,” said Sudha Sunaga, a child healthcare expert.</p>.<p>Researchers noted that private providers may be responding to financial incentives to sell more profitable alternatives. ORS is inexpensive, while antibiotics generate nearly double the profit. Practitioners also assume patients do not prefer ORS because of its taste.</p>.<p>“In rural areas, if doctors prescribe an antibiotic and the diarrhoea immediately stops, then the doctor is considered the best and everyone wishes to go to them. Doctors take advantage of this,” said a child healthcare expert, who wished to remain anonymous.</p>.<p>The study also found that many caretakers approach pharmacists instead of doctors as they do not charge a consultation fee. Pharmacies were nine percentage points more likely to prescribe ORS when financial incentives were removed, suggesting that low ORS prescribing in pharmacies may partly be explained by profit motives.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Despite medical guidelines recommending Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and zinc for treating child diarrhoea, most doctors in Karnataka continue to prescribe antibiotics instead, a recent study has found.</p>.<p>The study, titled 'Child Diarrhoea: Experimental Evidence from India', sent trained patients to 129 randomly selected doctors in Karnataka. It found that only 24% prescribed ORS, while 58.9% gave antibiotics. Zinc was prescribed in 5.4% of cases, and just 2.3% of patients received both ORS and zinc.</p>.<p>More than 2,000 providers across 253 medium-sized towns in Karnataka and Bihar participated in the study.</p>.Karnataka health officials uncover prenatal sex determination racket in inter-state decoy operation.<p>The Indian Academy of Paediatrics recommends ORS combined with zinc as the standard treatment for rotavirus infections, and no antibiotics. Rotavirus is the most common cause of child diarrhoea. Karnataka reported 64,229 cases of child diarrhoea and two deaths from Acute Diarrhoeal Disease (ADD) in the first few months of 2025.</p>.<p>"Most children with diarrhoea visit a health care provider for treatment, and many of these children still do not receive ORS,” said Arnab Mukherjee, Professor of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and one of the researchers.</p>.<p>Doctors often prescribe antibiotics instead of ORS, which fails to address dehydration and does not work against common viral diarrhoea pathogens, he added.</p>.<p>“Doctors usually prefer antibiotics over ORS as it provides immediate relief, but antibiotics usually make children weaker and take time for them to regain strength,” said Sudha Sunaga, a child healthcare expert.</p>.<p>Researchers noted that private providers may be responding to financial incentives to sell more profitable alternatives. ORS is inexpensive, while antibiotics generate nearly double the profit. Practitioners also assume patients do not prefer ORS because of its taste.</p>.<p>“In rural areas, if doctors prescribe an antibiotic and the diarrhoea immediately stops, then the doctor is considered the best and everyone wishes to go to them. Doctors take advantage of this,” said a child healthcare expert, who wished to remain anonymous.</p>.<p>The study also found that many caretakers approach pharmacists instead of doctors as they do not charge a consultation fee. Pharmacies were nine percentage points more likely to prescribe ORS when financial incentives were removed, suggesting that low ORS prescribing in pharmacies may partly be explained by profit motives.</p>