CHENNAI: Doctors in government and private hospitals alike are struggling to treat cancer patients amid a shortage of key platinum-based cancer drugs like carboplatin and cisplatin over the past few weeks.
While private hospital doctors told TNIE they are using existing stock judiciously or switching to alternative medications wherever possible, the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) said the government has about a month’s worth of stock of both drugs..
Platinum drugs are a class of chemotherapy medicines containing platinum in which the element is used to target and kill cancer cells.
Drug manufacturers decreased production of the medicines after a spike in price of raw materials due, in part, to the West Asia conflict, resulting in a shortage.
“Carboplatin is currently unavailable. So we are switching over to cisplatin after explaining (the reason behind) the move to patients. For some patients, including the elderly, we, however, cannot use cisplatin because of its side effects.
For patients with hearing problems, neuropathy and diabetes, the drug will aggravate their condition,” explained Dr D Satheesh Kumar, consultant medical oncologist at VS Hospital in Chennai.
Stressing that platinum-based drugs are more effective than alternatives relied on during the crunch, he described them as “gold standard” drugs effective in treating solid tumours, including testicular and lung cancers.
“The government should order an increase in the production of platinum-based drugs,” Dr Satheesh said.
Dr Janani Sankar, medical director, Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust Hospital, said there had been a shortage for the past three weeks. “We had some stock, so we managed. Now I have purchased more, but the cost of the platinum-based drugs has gone up. A vial (of the drug) we used to purchase for around Rs 2,500 has gone up to Rs 3,100.”
A senior doctor at the Government Royapettah Hospital said that it has been using up its cisplatin stock. Carboplatin, however, is not available, the doctor added.
Another government doctor mentioned having “little stock” of the chemotherapy drugs to “stretch for a month”.
H Krishnanunni, MD, Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation told TNIE that the corporation has cisplatin stock for one-and-a-half months and carboplatin for under a month.
“In case of urgency, the hospitals can do local purchase – that system is always there. The TNMSC is in the process of calling for new tenders to purchase the drugs,” the official added.
On Friday, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) let drug companies raise the prices of the two drugs to mitigate some of the crisis.
