Ministry of Health and Family Welfare confirms no more Injectables for MDR/RR-TB treatment in India

In early 2022, we received alarming news from India, where Kanamycin, an injectable anti-TB drug associated with severe side effects including irreversible hearing loss and kidney impairment, was still in use

As the Stop TB Partnership Community Delegation, we addressed the Minister of Health and Family Welfare on February 9, 2022, requesting the use of short oral regimens to treat MDR-TB as approved by the WHO.

In early May, we received a response to our request – which indicated that a letter had been sent to all territorial units instructing them to use all-oral regimes against MDR-TB: “In this regard, it is kind to be noted that the programme division has already taken a decision to move to injection free regimes for all types of DR-TB patients.  In Juli 2021, the programme had started transition from the only injection regimen in the entire cascade of care to shorter oral Bedaquiline containing MDR-RR-TB regimen in the selected few states. Later in the same year, it was gradually expanded to the rest of the states of the country”.

“Community Delegation is delighted by the response of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India,” says Peter Ng’ola, Community Representative to the Stop TB Partnership Board. “This is a demonstration of the meaningful collaboration we have at Stop TB Partnership in saving lives”.

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