Drug stock outs again! What ails India’s HIV programme

On July 21, HIV positive persons started protesting outside the National AIDS Control Organisation’s office in Delhi. They are protesting the stock outs of different medicines all over the country. Stock outs of anti HIV medicines have been reported for years now. HIV activists ask: Why can’t NACO fix this problem?

In this episode, we speak with HIV positive activists such as Hari Shankar from Delhi Network of Positive People, Loon Gangte from the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), Jhanabi Goswami from Assam Network of Positive persons who tell us about the different problems people are facing due to stock outs. One is that some people have been asking to come within days to collect their medicines, instead of getting a month’s doses making it harder for patients to follow their regimen. Some children’s parents have been asked to cut tablets meant for adults into many parts. For some people, their regimen has been changed because of stock outs.

Reference

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240038608
https://scroll.in/pulse/810086/maharashtras-hiv-patients-battle-an-acute-shortage-of-drugs
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