On the World AIDS Day, more than 500 people living with HIV (PLHIV) and public health activists came together for a protest march at Azad Maidan to highlight the high levels of stock-outs and shortages of HIV medicines and tools in Maharashtra.
According to patients, September and October saw acute shortage of first line HIV medicines at Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) centres in Maharashtra. Even the viral load test, essential for identifying those who are not responding to treatment, and also required before switching drugs, is not even available in Mumbai.
"Since the last 6 months more than seven lakh HIV-positive patients across India are frustrated and angry with the government as there have been severe shortages and stock outs in the supply of HIV medicines and kits," said Eldred Tellis, spokesperson of Mumbai AIDS forum. The health ministry and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) must urgently address this problem. according to Tellis.
Mumbai alone has over 50,000 people living with HIV who depend on these government-run centres for their antiretroviral (ART) therapy.
"Thousands of people living with HIV in Mumbai did not receive their month's supply of first line HIV medicines and were asked to come back repeatedly to ART centres. This month second line HIV medicines too were in short supply in Mumbai," said Tellis.
NGOs added that the regular stock-outs and shortages are either forcing patients to interrupt their treatment or to buy them from the private market at much higher prices. The worst affected were children and infants.
"Many PLHIVs are facing problems as they have to frequently be absent from work to come to the ART centre," said Krishnakant, coordinator of Chirag, an NGO.
NACO is responsible for buying HIV medicines and distributing them to the states which then provide treatment through their ART centres. The shortages and stock outs are related to the never-ending issues with drug procurement that India faces in many of its public health programmes.
"When we investigated the stock-outs and shortages at the Delhi level, the single largest issue we learnt are the deadly bureaucratic delays in finishing the tendering process. The notification of award for first line medicines was held up for months. Single source products like pediatric medicines were the worst affected," said Vikas Ahuja, President of the Delhi Network of Positive People.
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