14 Jun 2022

India on Friday donated lifesaving Tuberculosis (TB) medicines to Botswana.

The donation of 23 100 tablets of Linezolid and 103 000 capsules of Cycloserine will be used in the treatment of patients with Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB). 

The country’s High Commissioner Dr Rajesh Ranjan said the gift was part of their support and promotion of healthy lives, as well as efforts to eliminate TB by 2035.

He said the Indian government was grateful for the support Botswana gave to its citizens as shown by the number of Indians doing business in the country.

When receiving the donation, health minister Dr Edwin Dikoloti, said MDR-TB was the most opportunistic infection amongst people with HIV, and Botswana had seen growing numbers of the strain over the years. The country had also registered higher mortality and morbidity associated in particular with the strain of the disease.

 This, he said, threatened gains made over time, and the donation would go a long way reducing government expenditure on the usually ‘long treatment’ of the infection, as well as ensuring drug availability for patients. BOPA