The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 17 November 2017 launched Daily Drug Regimen for treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) across the country under The Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP).
Earlier, the Health Ministry was providing the treatment of tuberculosis thrice weekly, however it has now decided to change the treatment strategy for TB patients from thrice weekly to daily drug regimen using fixed dose combinations (FDC) for treatment.
The move is aimed at bringing the transformation in the approach and the intensity to deal with this disease which accounts for about 4.2 lakh deaths every year.
Key Highlights
• The daily FDC anti-TB drugs will be made available to private pharmacy or at private practitioners to dispense to TB patients who seek care in private sector, depending upon the convenience of patient.
• The Health Ministry will also make anti-TB drugs available to all major hospitals, IMA, IAP and other professional medical associations to expand the access to daily FDC to all TB patients.
• Under this treatment strategy, Ethambutol will be given in continuation for all patients on daily basis along with fixed dose combination (FDC) tablets to reduce the pill burden (as against separate 7 tablets previously) for children.
As per WHO Global TB Report 2017, the incidence of TB has reduced from 28.2 lakh to 27 lakh over the last one year, which is a testimony of anti TB drive by Union Government.
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