New Delhi: In an unusual repetition of sorts, the Union health ministry issued a press release on Sunday, October 1, denying any shortages of essential medicines for drug-resistant TB patients. It was only on September 26 that the ministry issued an almost similar statement.
“There have been some media reports claiming a shortage of anti-TB drugs in India. Such reports are false, misleading, motivated and seem deliberately intended to deceive and misguide people,” claimed the ministry’s release on October 1.
It didn’t specify which media report it was referring to and when it was published.
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Incidentally, the second press release came only two days after 113 global TB organisations and more than 700 TB advocates from across the globe had dispatched a joint appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his urgent invention on the issue of stock-outs in India. These organisations were located in the US, UK, India, Zambia, Malawi, Canada, Uganda and several others. Their letter can be read here.
Talking to The Wire on October 1, Blessina Kumar, associated with the Global Coalition of TB Activists and one of the signatories of the letter, said that the Prime Minister’s Office has so far not responded to the letter.
The ministry’s October 1 statement claimed all necessary drugs were available in adequate stock – sourcing data from the Nikshay app. It made a similar claim in the September 26 statement. The ministry’s full statement issued on October 1 can be read here and the September 26 one here, here. Activists working with TB control say there is no way to independently verify the government-issued figures. They maintain that they continue to remain flooded with SOS calls from patients who are unable to get drugs. The two statements appear identical in many ways.
(On left) Press Release issued by Union health ministry on September 26. (On right) Press release issued by health ministry on October 1. Source: Press Information Bureau.
Organisations working with people affected by TB and family members of TB patients had termed the September 26 statement of the government as mocking the struggles of patients. They even contested the claims of the government that six months of drug stocks were available — a claim repeated in the October 1 release too.
In fact, the husband of a Mumbai-based TB patient, after reading the September 26 statement that was plainly reproduced by a couple of newspapers, sent a voice note to this correspondent. He said, “What is happening here, I am not able to understand… I am running from pillar to post to get the drugs for my wife and the government is saying that stock is available for six months… DOTs centre is asking us to buy medicines from private stores, where also, they are not available.”
His full voice note is included in the video report below.