Maharashtra to start six-month drug-resistant TB treatment regime
According to the officials, the new regimen, called BPaL/BPaLM, includes medications bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid, and moxifloxacin and will be given to multi-drug-resistant TB patients
The Maharashtra government from next month will implement a six-month treatment regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), significantly reducing the current two-year treatment duration. The new drug regime will increase adherence and cut down mortality, said the public health officials.
According to the officials, the new regimen, called BPaL/BPaLM, includes medications bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid, and moxifloxacin and will be given to multi-drug-resistant TB patients. This new drug regime will be given under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) to all adult patients, they said.
Dr Sandeep Sangale, joint director (TB and leprosy), Maharashtra, said, “The new drug regime has been proven to be safe, more effective and a quicker treatment option than the previous MDR-TB treatment procedure. A short regime will improve patient compliance. Four batches of medicine have been delivered to Nodal DR TB centres across the state. Besides, further stock of medicines along with guidelines is expected to be received soon,” he said.
The Public Health Department has set up 21 nodal drug-resistant TB (DRTB) centres for the treatment of drug-resistant TB patients. In addition, as many as 42 district drug-resistant TB centres are established where conventional MDR treatment is provided to make the treatment services accessible to patients.
Dr Nitin Bhalerao, assistant director, (TB and leprosy), Maharashtra, said, the pilot project of these new drug regimes was started in the Mumbai TB division one year back and the results are positive.
“This will be expanded across the state in the next month for all drug-resistant TB patients. The current treatment period for drug-resistant TB patients varies from Nine months to two years,” he said.
As per the health officials, from April 2018 the TB patients included under the NTEP are given direct beneficiary transfer (DBT) Benefits for nutritional support in the state. The TB patient is provided ₹1,000 as a monthly incentive under the Nikshay Poshan Yojana through direct benefit transfer to the bank account of the patient. In 2024, as many as ₹29.01 crore were given to TB patients under the NTEP in Maharashtra.