Civic officials claim that the shortage of essential drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) medicines has come to an end, but some DOTS centres have a different story to tell. DOTS personnel claim they were provided inadequate funds to procure the drugs. In the scenario, doctors have warned that if patients have been missing out on doses for two to three months, the city could experience a resistance pattern to the medications.

This could lead to an increase in drug-resistant tuberculosis cases. “The issue still persists. Funds were allocated to district TB officials to procure medicines at the local level due to the shortage, but they were insufficient to meet the needs of the DOTS centres in their jurisdiction,” said one DOTS centre official in M East ward.