Despite their ubiquity in private pharmacies, irrational antifungal combination creams have not fully penetrated government supply chains.

In public health facilities, including primary health centres in rural areas treatment still relies on separate, rational medications—plain antifungals prescribed on their own, with steroids or antibiotics used only when clearly indicated.

Allowing private-market logic to seep into these spaces would be disastrous

We must hold this line.

The photo shows a rural PHC in Paderu, Andhra Pradesh, stocking plain antifungal creams.