The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to administer all fresh patients of tuberculosis with daily dosage medicine and ensure the current regime of drugs with a thrice-a-week dosage is exhausted latest by nine months, in view of the health risks it posed to patients.
A PIl filed by a doctor and TB specialist Raman Kakkar had raised the side-effects of the present drug regime available for TB in the country and questioned why the earlier regime of administering daily dosage of medicine could not be reintroduced by the Government. He pointed out that less dose of drug increases chances of relapse which is more deadly in case of some patients.
The Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar, Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud was concerned over the adverse effects caused by the high dosage of thrice-a-week medicine, which even resulted in deaths. It asked the Centre to consider a way out to eliminate the existing stock of this drug and shift patients to the daily dose medincine.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh pointed out that the medicines under the present TB treatment regime can be exhausted not before nine months. O switching over patients from 3 times per week medicine to daily dose medicine was also not feasible for such patients already undergoing the treatment. To the extent possible, it assured the Court that the daily dose medicines could be introduced for new TB patients.
The bench put two options to Singh. “Would you like to make payment and get drugs that can save your citizens or you wish to continue with drugs that will kill patients.” ASG said that the Centre was not averse to the switch over but feared that a sudden decision can create a situation where three doses a week medicine is banned while the daily dose medicine is out of stock.