bmc: Fight Against Tb: Measures Of Bmc In Nat’l Guidelines | Mumbai News – Times of India

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[google-translator]

MUMBAI: The BMC’s public health department has won numerous kudos in the last decade for the measures it has taken in the fight against TB — like setting up the highest number of quick TB diagnostic facilities to providing free scans even to patients of private doctors.

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Some of BMC’s measures — such as enrolling successfully treated patients to act as peer counsellors to check dropout rates among patients and devising protocols for infection control measures in healthcare settings – have been included in the national guidelines.
The city’s increased TB patient pool – from 32,535 in 2012 to 59,052 last year – is actually a testimony of how the TB control mechanism here works. The same time, reporting of deaths increased by 40% and drug-resistant TB cases increased 10 times. “These increased numbers are not an actual increase. They are a reflection of better facilities that help us identify patients who were previously not being found,’’ said Dr Vikas Oswal, a private pulmonologist who works closely with the BMC. “If other cities say they don’t have drug-resistant TB, it only means that they don’t have the means to detect them,’’ he said.
In January 2012, Hinduja Hospital’s team led by pulmonologist Dr Zarir Udwadia and microbiologist Dr Camilla Rodrigues published a letter in a medical journal about handling a dozen TB patients who were resistant to all known drugs of TB. The central team visiting the city allowed special status for the city, with patients getting faster access to tests and medicines. Funds started flowing in, not only from the centre but also from corporates that funded Gene-Xpert machines (to detect drug-resistant strains in two hours) to meal packages for poor patients.
“There is better awareness about tuberculosis in the city. There are multiple avenues for early detection and treatment facilities. A well-established treatment protocol is now in place,’’ said pulmonologist Dr Salil Bendre who consults at Nanavati Hospital, Juhu.
A senior BMC official said that the civic health setup increased TB beds (in Sewri TB Hospital), created a new post of TB officer in every ward and set up hi-tech laboratories for advanced TB testing.
“We were the first to start a tie-up between the public, the private and the NGO sectors. The private sector started notifying every TB case as the BMC started providing free treatment and diagnostic tests for their patients too. The NGO sector helped in motivating patients and creating access,’’ the officer said. Other measures include training healthcare workers to tackle the mental health problems associated with TB.
However, a senior doctor said that while BMC has improved the infrastructure for TB, there can be no room for complacency. “The TB bacterium has always stayed ahead of mankind. It has bounced back often. So, we need to evolve further strategies to ensure TB transmission in the community is checked,’’ he said.

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