People with HIV protest, face police action
An HIV activist was hospitalised on Thursday after the Delhi Police attacked protesters outside the Health Ministry here on Thursday.
The protest was organised by people living with HIV (PLHIVs), who have demanded access to a fixed dose combination (FDC) of Tuberculosis drugs.
The agitation followed several written submissions made to the Health Ministry about the roll-out of FDCs under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP).
In December 2014, the RNTCP announced the provision of daily FDCs in five States and 104 districts.
However, this rollout is yet to see the light of day because of delays in procurement of the medicines needed.
“For more than one year, we have been hearing that FDCs will be rolled out. But, nothing has changed on ground. We tried to meet the officials to voice our concerns and present our letter. Initially, the security personnel blocked our entry, telling us that the person incharge was on leave. They then called the police who beat us, injuring several people. One woman was seriously hurt and sent to a hospital, while another person’s clothes were torn,” said Paul Lhungdim, a patient activist with the Delhi Network of Positive persons (DNP+).
The fight for FDCs to replace individual drugs is central to the TB programme, explains Leena Menghaney, who is access campaigner with humanitarian aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Need for FDCs
“Patients need to be put on FDCs because then they can have three or more drugs as a single dose. At present, a TB patient has to consume seven or eight pills a day, which they do not do sometimes. This hinders adherence. FDCs would reduce the pill burden, improve adherence and simplify treatment. It is shocking that despite being the biggest exporter of these drugs, we cannot make them available to our people. Treatment protocols of this programme are not consistent with scientific evidence or with the WHO recommendations,” added Ms. Menghaney. At present, India is the only country where FDCs are not part of the national programme.
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