My Article Published in Gulf News UAE on 23April 17,
Invest in the treatment of infectious diseases!
India needs to do more to tackle the rise of tuberculosis in the country
Published: 15:03 April 22, 2017
By K. Ragavan
In India tuberculosis is increasing every year due to various reasons. Today drug resistance is one of the major reasons. People living in open areas are prone to get this disease. Tuberculosis is caused by the bacterium called Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. The main symptoms are loss of appetite, weight loss, fever and fatigue, which is more prevalent in India. Earlier, tuberculosis was treated with streptomycin with isoniazid combination drugs. But the treatment duration was over a long period and the patients’ compliance was one of the constraint factors. Later, five decades back, new inventions came in the tuberculosis treatment. The treatment duration of six months only with a little extra cost for the patients. Medical professions found good improvements with patients. The main advantage of these drugs was the treatment duration being only six months, whereas the earlier treatment duration was 18 months. The new treatment was welcomed by most of the TB specialists.
Despite the revolution of new drugs, still the causalities per year have reached 220,000, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). What’s even more alarming is that today these second line drugs are also becoming resistant and pose a great threat to the medical profession. The Indian government should act on this important issue and find a new solution for tuberculosis treatment. Having served in the pharmaceuticals industry for three decades, having promoted the second line drugs, seeing the development with most hospitals in India and now seeing the drug resistant reports, I am worried. If proper attention is not going to be spent by the government, we will continue to have causalities. WHO also warned the government of this infectious disease. Will the Indian government take up this call?
— The reader is retired and based in Bengaluru, India.
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