BMC to set up city’s first TB drug store

Currently,the BMC gets medicines for multi-drug resistant TB from the state or CTD. With the establishment of the store,the civic body plans to procure at least the basic medicines directly from the drug manufacturers. The BMC TB team estimates that around Rs 10 lakh will be pumped in for the project,of which Rs 5-7 lakhs will be spent on air conditioning the store and making interiors conducive for storage.

“Medicines need to be stored at the right temperature and for an optimum period of time. Hence there is major focus on ensuring proper storage conditions. We will also be recruiting a chief pharmacist,an assistant and additional staff to prepare the drug sets,” Keskar said.

Treatment of TB requires a combination of drugs,which varies from patient to patient. While patients will not be purchasing the TB drugs directly from the store,individualised drug sets will be prepared by the staff,which will then be transported to each DOTS centre in the city. There are 338 BMC owned DOTS centres in the city spread across health posts,dispensaries and civic hospitals.

“Decentralisation of the process will help get the medicines in time and bypass several intermediate procedures,which usually cause delay in procurement of the medicines,” Keskar said.