Telangana running short of TB drugs

Telangana is reeling under severe shortage of TB drugs, even as the State nodal TB officers have cast a wide net to procure drugs for patients through alternative routes.

At present, the State TB division has buffer stock of TB drugs that will last for less than 30-days and there are reports indicating that senior health officials are struggling to procure medicines due to the ongoing model code of conduct.

More than 90 percent of the TB patients in Telangana hail from poor background and they are not in a position to incur monthly expenditure of anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000 to procure combination of TB drugs, which are advised by the Central TB division and prescribed by the State TB specialists.

“We are closely working with our counterparts in Maharashtra and Karnataka, which are also experiencing a similar shortage of TB drugs, to procure medicines.”

At present, we just about have a supply of TB drugs for a month. But, we are hoping to tide over this crisis, as the Central government is in the process of procurement,” says Joint Director (TB), Telangana, Dr A Rajesham. A few days ago the union Health Ministry had written letters to all States about the impending crisis of shortage of TB medicines and asked them to independently start procuring and ensure there is no short supply for patients.

Since TB drugs are expensive and have to be administered to patients in a combination, the Central Medical Services Society, New Delhi, procures them for the union Health Ministry, which in-turn distributes them to the States.

Procurement in bulk ensures that the Medical Services Society is able to procure drugs cheaply. According to officials in Hyderabad, there has been inordinate delay in procurement and supply of drugs. As a result, the shortage of TB medicines has started to impact patient care. “We are able to manage the show by providing medicines to TB patients by procuring through our own local channels and drawing funds from hospital development society. This shortage scenario has been there since past one month or so. Unfortunately, TB is a poor man’s disease and majority of them can’t buy medicines from medical shops. Sometimes, such patients simply postpone taking TB medicines for a month, which eventually leads to more health complications,” says Superintendent, Chest Hospital, Dr Mahaboob Khan.