Two months of Tuberculosis drugs available everywhere: Centre amidst reports of medicine shortage

New Delhi: Amidst reports of TB drug shortage, the Union Health Ministry on Friday said more than two months stock of all essential anti-TB drugs is available and efforts are being made to increase the buffer stocks to more than six months.

The assurance comes on the eve of the ministry launching a 100-day intensified campaign in 347 districts in 33 states to enhance case detection and treatment outcomes as India has set a timeline of eliminating TB by 2025.

Sources said steps were being taken to enhance the buffer stock of drugs to more than six months at the state and district drug stores, and in TB units. As on Friday, more than two months of stocks is available in all units.

Notwithstanding the successes in the last two decades, India still tops every category of the global TB burden ranging from drug resistant cases to mortality as per the World Health Organisation’s global TB report 2024.

To make the matter worse, patients from several states including Maharashtra, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Karnataka have been complaining about shortage of TB medicines for nearly a year.

The ministry on Saturday will launch an intensified campaign for 100 days in 347 districts targeting high-risk groups with the aim of enhanced case detection through community awareness campaigns, comprehensive screenings, and diagnostic tools for timely detection. The campaign will be launched from Panchkula in Haryana.

According to the latest WHO report on tuberculosis, India’s TB incidence is over two times higher and death rate three times more than the milestone goals set by the Union government to eliminate TB.

The report, released in October, estimates that the country’s TB incidence was 195 per 100,000 population, or 2.5 times higher than the 77 per 100,000 population, the target set by the Union health ministry.

Similarly, the TB death rate in 2023 was 22 per 100,000 population, or over three times higher than the milestone goal to lower TB death rates to six per 100,000 population.