Worry over TB drugs shortage

DOCTORS around the country have raised concerns that there is severe shortage of Tuberculosis (TB) drugs.
“There is a shortage (at the Port Moresby General Hospital),” the doctor, who asked not to be named, said. We are not giving the Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) now, we are giving only the single tablets.”
The doctor said FDC was a dose of the four tablets that patients with TB took – four-in-one.
It made compliance easier for patients.
He said because of the shortage of FDC, they were giving patients loose tablets.
Another doctor in Milne Bay said they were rationing TB drugs at their end.
“Senior medical officers are worried about it,” he said.
This is very serious as TB is very prevalent in the country, and is developing resistant strains.”
“We are managing here at the moment, but I’m not sure about the rest of the country.
“If nothing is done anytime soon, it could pose a real nationwide public health issue.”
Several health professionals had said that switching back to the single tablets could have adverse effects on patients, including an increase in resistance to the four tablets.
In a statement dated Aug 1, secretary Dr Osborne Liko explained that the Health Department was dealing with a noticeable increase in the number of TB cases nationwide.
Liko said there had been a worrying increase in TB cases from 30,000 in 2021 to 37,000 last year.
“An additional 9,600 plus cases have been reported in health facilities around the country in the first quarter of 2023,” he said.
He said two ways they were trying to address this drug shortage, one is to acquire TB drugs through support from development partners and reallocating the drugs that were available in the country to areas with the greatest need.