This patient from Surguja, Chhattisgarh, has been on treatment for his fungal infection for more than a year without resolution.

The patient has been spending around 6000 - 7000 Rs per month on his treatment, and had to drive a bike for more than an hour regularly to seek care.

After long-term treatment with steroids, he has now developed various side effects of steroids, including facial puffiness known as moon facies. He also had severe weakness, bone and muscle pain, along with depressive symptoms.

Alongside losing money, patients also suffer from emotional distress, shame, frustration and sleep disturbances that occurs from recurrent long standing itching.

This is especially pronounced when the fungal infection is in the genital area and the patient is female or gender diverse.

Listen to the author's interview with this patient on this link

Furthermore, doctors are also seeing an increase in antibacterial and antifungal resistance due to such irrational prescription of drugs as evidenced by this paper, which says that the scale of this problem in India is unprecedented.