Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.

The antibiotics in use today were mostly discovered decades ago, and resistance to them is spreading faster than replacements are arriving. New classes of antibiotic may well be found, and if they are, some of the pressure will ease. They may equally not be found, or may arrive after a generation of routine surgery has become unsafe to perform. Every year that prescribing practice, hospital hygiene and the use of these drugs in livestock are left unaddressed is a year in which resistance compounds and the eventual replacement has less to work with. A hospital that plans on the assumption that a new drug will arrive in time is making a bet, not a plan.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the crucial message conveyed by the author of the passage?