‘Erratic supply, untimely communications put 80,000+ TB patients in distress’: Rao to Mandaviya

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What does Gundu Rao say in his letter?

In a compelling indictment of the Union Health Ministry’s handling of the TB crisis in Karnataka, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao’s letter lays bare a saga of neglect and bureaucratic missteps that have compounded the state’s way of managing the situation.

The Central government’s erratic supply chain management and untimely communications stood as stark evidence of its faltering commitment to controlling TB, said Gundu Rao in the letter.

He also pointed to a troubling pattern of “frequent interruption in the supply of anti-TB drugs” since 2021, an issue that critically undermined the treatment and TB management in the state.

More bewildering was the Union government’s directive to Karnataka to procure drugs for DSTB patients for the next three months, he noted, adding that this was especially perplexing given its timing — after the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

Such directives would not only strain the state’s resources but also mire it in procedural limbo, further jeopardising patient care, he said.

The minister claims that the state had proactively taken measures to combat this shortage by also intensifying efforts to procure drugs at both state and district levels and the pursuit of additional funds.

“In the public interest, the department has requested the Finance Department of the state to provide additional funds for procuring the drugs,” the letter stated.

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No medicines available

The letter also clearly stated that were neither these medications available in the quantities required by the state nor could the procurement process be hastened given both the manufacturing process and the prevailing MCC.

Expressing dissatisfaction, Gundu Rao said in the letter, “While I do not wish to accuse the Union government of callousness, I have to point out that the state support for the TB patients has been jeopardised by this action of the Union government.”

He said both the delayed communication to procure a critical drug and the issuing of the communication during the MCC had adversely affected the efforts of the state government in this regard.

Gundu Rao insisted that the Union government was obligated to respond immediately and support the state government to keep up the supply of critical drugs to TB patients at a required level.

He requested the Union Health Ministry to supply the “first line of anti-TB drugs on an urgent basis to the state”.

He added: “We hope the Union government recognises the adverse effects of its decision and adopts a course correction immediately to avoid thousands of TB patients throughout the state of Karnataka being put to uncalled hardship and leading to higher pain and death in such patients.”

(Edited by Arkadev Ghoshal)