Vaishnavi Jayakumar Profile picture
Co-founder https://t.co/ZqoE96Z3md, Member DRA @DisabilityIndia, free thinker, Horton fan
N.V.Ramanan Profile picture 2 subscribed
Nov 10, 2023 5 tweets 3 min read
🧵MDR-TB Drug shortage RTI response finally arrived, with some key information dodged. All information requested is available to anyone with access to Ni-kshay Aushadhi portal yet @TbDivision has ducked questions on the tender cancellation and delivery of late tender. Appealing.

Screenshots of unanswere / improperly answered questions of RTI filed on 2023 MDR-TB Drug shortage in India. RTI reply can be read at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a2i5l1yPd0B5DErffnRNrza56TZ_4qOE-UJL8he088M/edit?usp=drive_link
Screenshots of unanswere / improperly answered questions of RTI filed on 2023 MDR-TB Drug shortage in India. RTI reply can be read at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a2i5l1yPd0B5DErffnRNrza56TZ_4qOE-UJL8he088M/edit?usp=drive_link
RTI reply denies communication to procure emergency supply locally while also stating that "States were requested to procure few drugs locally for a limited period by utilizing the approved budget under National Health Mission (NHM)."
Cost = ~8.65 crores. Potential loss 43 lakhs? Approximately 8.65 crores was spent by States National Health Mission Funds to meet the SOS requirements caused by tendering delays. Issue landing page = http://bit.ly/TB-or-not-2be  Spreadsheet chart derived from Annexure 4 of RTI response :  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRuFUfD2V65ZxmcD6e8WWIltdRGSmropG8LUbSAi9lwNPiWd4xHFArZY-O8ZN7_crYuRrB1DIKlNZGE/pubhtml?gid=1046679671&single=true
Sep 26, 2023 36 tweets 8 min read
Thread : Collating 2023 India's MDR TB drug shortage reports (via social media) below.

TB Mukt Abhiyan, ya TB Maut Abhiyan?

Wake up @nppa_india ! There's an MDR / XDR TB #DrugShortage - stockouts at DOTS centres, as well as private.

#TBornot2be
#AccounTBility

#TeamISthmUS
Jun 15, 2023 13 tweets 8 min read
THREAD : I only recently learnt that nearly all NTA tests are computerised.

This means that exam centres are dependent on computer labs of private colleges or on standalone online testing centres.

Elections have taught us, that any private institution, is bad news for access.. Plank of wood on 8 steps do...So called ramp in 3 unfaste...Karnataka polling booth ina... Whether school or college, private organisations seem blissfully unaware that they're required by law to provide accessibility by 15-6-2022.
Private schools as polling booths have steadfastly refused to install permanent ramps despite a decade of advocacy
bit.ly/design4diversi…
Jun 7, 2023 22 tweets 10 min read
2500+ people endorsed overnight, the disability sector's representation to @MoHFW_INDIA minister @mansukhmandviya on restoring the suddenly dropped questions from the upcoming National Family Health survey NFHS-6. Read it @ bit.ly/question-of-in…

#NfhsDrops #QuestionOfInclusion Jigsaw of letters NFHS with... Will be going through the NFHS-6 questionnaire compilation today.

And posting thoughts and doubts as I go along on this thread.

drive.google.com/file/d/1nVC-0a…

Starting with a term I've never heard of : GAUNA -
apparently rooted in child marriage customs as the 'consummation ritual '
Jun 5, 2023 7 tweets 6 min read
Baffled that public health policy organisations & professionals are mum about @IIPSMumbai dropping anemia ALTOGETHER from #NFHS-6, barring few voices below.

Why @jsa_india @SOCHARASOPHEA @PHMglobal @SNEHAmumbai @jan_arogya @CEHAT1 @napmindia @iphindia etc?

#QuestionOfInclusion Diagram of Prevalence of An... 2 decades of anemia data in NFHS dropped because ... What?

Here's the entire NFHS-6 set of schedules and manuals released quietly by IIPS after the disability sector made a noise :
drive.google.com/file/d/1nVC-0a…

References to anaemia still persist in the instructions to interviewers !
Oct 3, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
Ploughing through the 600 pages of Maharashtra Prison manual in prep for Fr Stan Swamy MSHRC hearing tomorrow.

It's so dated, it's mists of time.

Remembered Arun Ferreira's account of the absurd meal timings.

If the manual doesn't change, how can life?
beyondheadlines.in/2012/06/arun-f… Extract of prison routine f...Arun Ferreira article (link... Why no dal on Sundays?

If you're prison labour you get more food, if you're not, rations get reduced?

29. It shall be the duty of the Supt to see that diet on the
highest scales is provided only to such prisoners as are employed bona
fide on hard labour & are doing full task.
Sep 24, 2022 70 tweets 38 min read
Jun 15, 2022 10 tweets 6 min read
Today after 1.5 years sitting on 32 stations' access audit reports @cmrlofficial had the temerity to inform Madras High Court that current construction is as per rules.
Indian rules on ramp design haven't changed in substance > 1998. Yet CMRL manages this in Central Square, 2022 The heart in mouth video shows a very strong disabled woman laboriously try to navigate a smooth, slippery surfaced, impossibly inclined 'ramp' (1:5?). Self propelling on a wheelchair, despite sliding often, from 0:20 near the top, front caster wheels keep lifting off surface 😱
Jun 12, 2022 10 tweets 6 min read
Not a doc (though I go by Dr Bathak with friends!). Firm believer in doctors prescribing only chemical name.

Procurement teams must do random, routine quality checks for all drugs, brands too. Anyone has list of trusted testing labs?

Print disabled :
facebook.com/26856106650501… On that note, neurologists, @pratimamurthy @mheduNIMHANS ,
recently a Raipur family was struggling to get Sabril tablet prescribed by NIMHANS. Fortunately a pharmacist forwarded them to the #WhereIsViga group of Team ISthmUS and short term need is fulfilled. But what ifs abound..
Oct 18, 2021 5 tweets 3 min read
Update as constant queries on draft (less so on #PLCP etc 🙄) : @DipikaJain2019 of @CJLS_JGU has been in touch & has committed to release the working draft by end of day in public domain.

The planned Right to Health Bill 2021 citizen engagement website is also being advanced. More info later.
Consultations as she'd mentioned earlier, will follow.

However, we should all be concerned that this seems to be more of a PMO-@EACtoPM initiative, rather than a health ministry effort. @MoHFW_INDIA seems to not be involved in this at all!

Timing also suspect
Oct 16, 2021 4 tweets 9 min read
People working in the field of #health, were you aware that there's a Right To Health Bill 2021 - with 1st draft out?
(All India, not the Rajasthan one. No, not the decade old one.)
Aa a matter of interest do YOU know @MoHFW_INDIA since this is strangely, initiated by EAC? #PLCP #PublicHealth #India #RightToHealth #2021Bill

@jsa_india @sujakrao @netshrink @AnantBhan @malini_aisola @das_seed @ramyakannan @RKRadhakrishn @pushpanarayan @RemaNagarajan @k_satyarthi @healthcollectif @WeAreSama @rozi_roti @d_s_thakur @Civis_Vote @napmindia @AnooBhu @jo_da123 1st page of 'Right to Healt...
Aug 31, 2021 5 tweets 4 min read
Some other #RailingAgainstBarriers observations - this is not easily available in the public domain so feel free to correct / clarify @ManiSudhanshu58 : Have safety / crash tests been done for passengers on wheelchairs without a backrest and safety belt?

@DisabilityIndia #WTORS View of the sole wheelchair space in entire Vande Bharat 'Ex Vande Bharat 'Express'ly excludes : The pic above has a red button out of reach of wheelchair user or person of short stature. Moving it down (perhaps appropriately recessed to prevent accidental pressing) would make it usable by more people.
And Braille on TOP of toilet door?! Screen capture of toilet door on Train 18 / Vande Bharat 'Ex
Apr 7, 2021 21 tweets 9 min read
Thread collating Remdesivir requests.

Privately appalled this chaos is happening a whole year later. Gujarat - Surat
Mar 10, 2021 6 tweets 3 min read
#BUSted!
GoTN BUSted in recent GO regarding bus procurement!

Continuing contempt of Madras High Court + Misdirection by quoting the Rajive Raturi PIL order. The Supreme Court will NOT be amused.

Then there are the the ludicrous 'parts of the bus' justification for #a11y claims G.O. MS No 31 dated 24 Feb 2021 of Tamil Nadu Government Tra Check out this table about the accessibility features available on Tamil Nadu State transport undertakings' fleet of 21033 buses.

Number 6 says handrails are provided at the entrance of the bus for all 21033 buses.
*slow clap*
Really?!
Shall we add the wheels of the bus next? Total Fleet strength of Tamil Nadu State Transport Undertaki
Feb 14, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Thread. A decade's worth of work in making @cmrlofficial projects accessible from start met with the same old stubborn, non-compliant, mediocre shoddiness touted as 'modern' in Govt propaganda.

And no TN bashing please - other metro projects are just as bad or more likely worse. Image = Ad announcing PM inauguration of modern infrastructu "The platform should have one row of dotted guiding blocks for persons with impaired vision, 800 mm. or more from the edge."

Are we waiting for a blind person to step off into space ? Safety studies in Japan, in fact recommend a 2 row width of tactile ground surface indicators! Picture comparing 2015 scenario with 2021 Chennai Metro stat
Apr 27, 2020 11 tweets 21 min read
@nppa_india @DVSadanandGowda @mansukhmandviya @Pharmadept @CDSCO_INDIA_INF @MoHFW_INDIA @NITIAayog @ICMRDELHI What about imported medicine shortages?
Like antiepileptic Sabril / Vigabatrin?

There seem to be scattered cases across India of this medicine that is so crucial for children with infantile spasms. Manufacturer is Sanofi. Can give links of other cases.
@nppa_india @DVSadanandGowda @mansukhmandviya @Pharmadept @CDSCO_INDIA_INF @MoHFW_INDIA @NITIAayog @ICMRDELHI Needed in Tumkur as well
Oct 16, 2018 24 tweets 21 min read
Oh @cmrlofficial . Why so averse to learning? New stations, same old access problems. #Senior #Joyride thread - I spy with my jaundiced eye. #ChennaiMetro #A11y #Fails @DisabilityIndia Really @chennaicorp ! This is the access to Nehru Park Chennai Metro station? At points the pavement itself is non existent with bus and Poonamallee High Rd traffic whizzing by. Senior citizen required support on both sides with parking 50 m away. @cmrlofficial @DisabilityIndia