TB meds crisis: Ministry’s denial sparks outrage among patients

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare MoHFW has finally responded to the allegations and reports of TB medicine shortages dismissing them as a myth a month after midday first flagged the problem However stakeholders on the ground including TB survivors patients practitioners and researchers have lamented the statement that the ministry has failed to acknowledge the problem on the ground and has instead termed media reports highlighting the plight as ldquoillinformed and misleadingrdquoldquoThere have been some media reports alleging a shortage of antiTB drugs in India and questioning the effectiveness of such drugs under the National TB Elimination Programme NTEP Such reports are vague and illinformed without any specific information on the availability of antiTB medicines in stockrdquo the statement by the ministry readsIn multiple earlier reports midday gathered firsthand accounts from TB patients and highlighted their plight with many patients expressing fears for their lives due to a lack of access to medications Primarily there has been a shortage of Linezolid Clofazimine and Cycloserine which are used to treat drugresistant TBNotably India has a target for TB elimination by 2025 However the Union Ministry of Health skipped the second round of the highlevel meeting at the United Nationsrsquo headquarters held on September 22 aimed at addressing the challenges in TB controlA coalition of five antiTB organisations has criticised the recent statement by the health ministry ldquoThe TB community in India consisting of TB survivors TB advocates Country Coordinating Mechanism members representing the TBaffected community clinicians treating TB patients and TB champions is very concerned about the notice from the MoHFW today saying that the TB drug stockout situation is a myth and media hyperdquo the antiTB organisations statement readsThe coalition which includes TB survivors and activists from Mumbai had earlier written to the health ministry requesting urgent intervention to address the shortages ldquoIt is disheartening to see the recent communication from the MoHFW which seems to disregard the very real struggles and suffering endured by the people on the groundrdquo the statement saidIn its statement the health ministry noted that the supply of medications is managed by the Central TB Division It stated that ldquoin rare situations states were requested to procure a few drugs locally for a limited period using the budget under the National Health Mission NHM to ensure that individual patient care is not affectedrdquomidday had earlier reported that due to issues with the tender for the procurement of medicines the TB division had indeed asked the states to procure the medicines locally However health officials at the state as well as BMC level had noted that the states were asked to procure the medications at the very last momentThe current situationThe ministry has claimed that Maharashtra has already centrally procured Cycloserine tablets It noted that all the drugs are now available with sufficient stocks with a range of six months It also stated that more than 15 monthsrsquo worth of stocks of Moxifloxacin 400mg and Pyridoxine are available under NTEP Additionally Delamanid 50 mg and Clofazimine 100 mg were procured in August and supplied to all states and UTs Meanwhile purchase orders were issued for the supply of Linezolid 600mg and Cap Cycloserine 250 mg in August ldquoThe drugs are being dispatched to the statesrdquo MoHFW said in its statementThere is no way of cross checking these figures There have been stockouts reported from across the country They did the purchase for some medicines in August after months of stockouts but distribution is a long process said Mumbai based TB survivor Ganesh AcharyaGovt claimsQty of Stock available in Maharashtra as on 24092023Cycloserine ndash 250 mg634940Linezolid ndash 600 mg86443Delamanid 50 mg153784Clofazimine100mg79926Moxifloxacin 400 mg456137Pyridoxine706413Qty of Stock available at national level as on 24092023Cycloserine 250 mg1479857Linezolid ndash 600 mg995779Delamanid 50 mg1137802Levofloxacin ndash 250 mg2885176Levofloxacin ndash 500 mg3327130Clofazimine 100 mg1286360Moxifloxacin 400 mg27249866Pyridoxine272992422025Year India wants to eliminate TB by