Civil society networks in India call for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National TB Elimination Program to take urgent action.
On 30 September 2021, TB and HIV civil society networks in India sent an open letter calling for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) to take urgent action to address the current stock outs of TB medicines and diagnostics across the country, and to introduce better TB screening tools for people living with HIV and children.
“… we request you to take steps to approve the delamanid procurement for 2021 immediately. We also urge you to encourage generic suppliers to register the adult and child formulations of delamanid with the CDSCO [Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation] so that in 2022 a similar situation of high pricing failed negotiations with the patentee, leading to stock out in NTEP, can be avoided. In the circumstances, a government authorization or a compulsory license must be issued to allow generic companies to supply delamanid to NTEP.”
To read the full letter, click here.