Healthy Soch
(Indian Express, October 07, 2019):
In a bid to fight drug resistance and tackle rheumatic heart disease, the Government of India is planning a revival of penicillin, one of the oldest antibiotics known to man. Not many organisms have developed resistance to it yet.
Penicillin went out of production in India because of unrealistic price control, officials said. The government is now planning to procure penicillin centrally for three years and give it to all children between 5-15 years who have a sore throat, at least once. The drug will be dispensed through primary health centres or administered by ASHAs. A committee has been formed with officials from the department of health research to finalise the contours of the plan to tackle rheumatic fever and heart disease burden and revive penicillin.
A senior health ministry official said, “We are looking at a plan to deal with rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease load and are trying to revive penicillin availability because it is the cheapest option for rheumatic fever treatment. We are exploring various options including talking to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority to take it off the price control list. Also, to kickstart production, we are looking at procuring the medicine centrally — enough stock for three years so that manufacturers are encouraged to restart production.”
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