India, Aug. 20 -- The search for two common cancer drugs outside the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, leads to the same answer, pharmacy after pharmacy: "No stock." The drugs in question, cisplatin and carboplatin, are prescribed for chemotherapy across the country. But when Down To Earth (DTE) approached attendants at three pharmacies near AIIMS on August 6, all of them responded that they had run out of the drugs weeks ago and had not seen any fresh stocks in at least two months. None of the attendants knew when they may receive the drug again.

Since May, doctors, patients and pharmacists across states have shared similar reports of being unable to source cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin, three platinum-b...