A teenager from Patna who is suffering from drug-resistant Tuberculosis was admitted to Hinduja Hospital on Friday. Her quota of Bedaquiline, the anti-TB drug for which her family approached the Delhi High Court, has reached the Mahim Hospital. Her treatment might start on Monday.
The patient’s elder sister said, “She has a liver problem owing to her previous round of medication, which has been stopped. She is on intravenous drip.” Bedaquiline is a new anti-TB drug to come to fray after a gap of 40 years. It was granted accelerated approval by the FDA in 2012. The drug manufactured by a Belgian firm is first sent to the USAID through which it is acquired by the Government of India and then disbursed only to the respective trial sites in six cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Guwahati. The girl therefore could not get the medication.
Last month, the Delhi High Court ordered that the girl should be given the drug Bedaquiline under the care of chest physician Dr. Zarir Udwadia at Hinduja Hospital. The drug was to be procured from KEM Hospital. So far, the government has procured 600 doses of Bedaquiline but they have been given to just 164 patients, including 56 in Mumbai.
