E-Paper
TB combo drug in short supply, give singly: State to district TB officers
Short supply of TB drugs in Maharashtra prompts local purchase. Officials advised to use single drugs if 3FDC unavailable, affecting TB treatment.
Owing to a short supply of fixed-dose combination (3FDC) drugs to treat active tuberculosis (TB) patients in the state, the directorate of health services- Maharashtra has written to all district health officers to purchase the drugs locally and go for single drugs instead of the FDC if needed.
In a letter dated April 5, Dr. Nitin Ambadekar, health services director asked district-level officials to purchase FDCs of three drugs -- rifampicin, ethambutol and isoniazid -- locally instead of waiting for the stocks from the central TB Division in Delhi.
The letter directed all district and city TB officers to make arrangements at their level and directly use the current drugs in their original form if 3 FDC is not available.
“The supply of anti-TB drugs in the country is centralised, under the National Tuberculosis Eradication Program through the Central TB division, New Delhi. We have 66.000 strips of 3FDC and 155523 strips of 4FDC in the state and the procurement process of 450000 strips of 3 FDC from the state level is going on through the Maharashtra Medical Procurement Supplies Authority,” said a state TB official.
The supply is said to last for 15 days. The official added that ₹1.63 crore has been disbursed at the state level to the districts for local purchases. The official said the situation would ease in two weeks.
In Mumbai, TB patients have started getting their stock for 20 days instead of a month. The FDC was seen as a game changer in TB treatment as it reduced the pill burden and increased drug compliance. Two lakh 3 FDC and 4 FDC drugs are required for new and existing drug-sensitive TB patients every month.
TB Activists said the frequent stockouts of anti-TB drugs threaten to undo the progress made in tackling TB in the country through the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP). “It is an irony that we are seeing drug shortage in TB treatment regularly. India supplies these medicines to other countries. The FDC is a government supply and not available in the open market,” said Ganesh Acharya, TB survivor and activist who said the situation has worsened since the pandemic.
