Trends of Private Drugs' Sales and Costs Incurred by Patients on Anti-tuberculosis Drugs in Selected Districts of Jharkhand (2022): Results From Sub-national TB-Free Certification

Background: The government of India is committed to eliminating tuberculosis (TB) by 2025 under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme which provides free investigations and treatment as well as incentives for nutritional support during their treatment course. Many TB patients prefer to seek treatment from the private sector which sometimes leads to financial constraints for the patients. Our study aims to find the burden of TB patients in the private sector and the expenses borne by them for their treatment. Methodology: Sales data of rifampicin-containing formulation drug consumption in the private sector of six districts of Jharkhand was collected from Clearing and Forwarding agencies. Based on the drug sales data, the total incurring costs of the drugs, total number of patients, and cost per patient seeking treatment from the private sector were calculated for the year 2015-2021. ANOVA and the post hoc test (Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD)) were applied for analysis. Results: There was a marked difference amongst all the districts in relation to all the variables namely total costs, cost per patient, and total private patients seeking treatment from the private sector which was statistically significant (p < 0.001). East Singhbhum had the highest out-of-pocket expense and private patients as compared to all six districts. Lohardaga showed the sharpest decline in total private patients from 2015 to 2021. The average cost borne by private patients in 2015 was INR 1821 (95% CI 1086 - 2556) which decreased to INR 1033 (95% CI 507 - 1559) in 2021. Conclusion: From the study, it was concluded that the purchase of medicines for TB treatment from the private sector is one of the essential elements in out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) borne by TB patients. Hence, newer initiatives should be explored to foresee the future OOPE borne by the patients and decrease OOPE-induced poverty.