Concerted efforts can help combat disease

Chennai: With Tamil Nadu alone having recorded 80,543 Tuberculosis (TB) cases of India’s 2.2 million, last year, an urgent need for government to work harder to combat the disease has been felt by stakeholders involved in dealing with TB, including doctors, researchers and NGOs.

“Though primary TB cases have reduced, a significant rise in multi drug resistance TB cases was seen in 2015,” said  Ganga Mallan, IMA physician of GFATM, (Global Fund to Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria).

Stressing on the need for private practitioners to cooperate in Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), state TB officer Lakshmi Murali said, “This year, the motto for World TB Day, on March 24, will be ‘Unite to End TB’.”
With World TB Day approaching and the need to combat it, a drug  ‘Bedaquiline’ — Miracle medicine for TB —  was introduced four days ago to fight multi drug resistant TB cases.

“The problem of TB is huge, a reason why India has a large number of centres dedicated to its research,” said Mohan Natrajan, head of clinic department,  National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai. If TB drugs are given properly, covering a wide range, that in itself will help bring down the numbers, he added.

The institute will hold a special programme this World TB Day, wherein they will invite participation of all their patients, occupying them with events such as TB quizzes and skits. Tamil Nadu, as compared to other states, is better off in terms of TB coverage. “The health system is more in place here,” said Illango, R.P., senior consultant interventional pulmonologist, Apollo Hospitals.

A TB control network was also launched in 2014, known as the Tamil Nadu TB Control Network (TTCN), with the aim of working towards a TB-free state. As per 2015 reports, it was found that 10,000 new cases of TB were diagnosed in Tamil Nadu, the largest concentration of which was in northern and central regions of the  state.

“Though DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short course), which replaced the PPP programme, saves lives from TB mortality, but it has failed to control TB,” said T. Jacob John, chairman, Child Health Foundation. It is the government’s responsibility to create a PPP programme and include private practitioners, he said. “I see a very small window of opportunities and if we fail to take action against TB within five years, I fear we may fail to do so completely,” added the chairman, stressing on the need for a decision on the same to be taken by the Prime Minister. “It will require a war-like effort to eradicate this disease,” he said.