Just ahead of elections, reports of vital drug-sensitive (DS) tuberculosis medicines supplied by the Centre being out of stock have emerged from parts of the country. However, there is one unlikely place where medicines are made available to patients in case of unavailability which is at government-supported Direct Observation Treatment Short-Course (DOTS) centres—the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) undertaking.

Its officials claim a cure rate of 98 per cent. “Anytime government-supplied medicines have not been available at DOTS centres, we have procured medicines locally and made them available to our patients. That is why we have a high cure rate,” said Dr Anil Kumar Singal, Pulmonologist and BEST’s Chief Medical Officer.