There is a shortage of Tuberculosis drugs in the country.
Healthcare workers are now forced to open packs to share the drugs among two or three patients where ideally each pack is designed for one patient for the entire course of six months.
Speaking during the ongoing high-level meeting in Nairobi, AIDS Healthcare Foundation Kenya country director Samuel Kinyanjui, said the government’s efforts of procuring 7,000 packs with another consignment of 28,000 packs expected to be received before the end of October is a drop in the ocean based on the fact that the shortage has hit the country over a long period of ti
In the initial phase, patients are supposed to come every two weeks to collect their medication for two months and then come once per month for the subsequent months.
“When you force them to come more frequently some are defaulting because some may not have fare to come or sometimes they lack the time to come and collect the medication,” Kinyanjui said.
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The Health stakeholders are calling on the government to move with urgency and address the persistent shortages of TB drugs and testing cartridges.