Monday, March 24, 2014

53286 TB patients go undetected in State



BHUBANESWAR: As many as 53,286 missing number of TB patients in the State out of the total 98,670 estimated TB cases last year, said the findings of Citizens Report Card released by the Voice of Patients, an NGO, here on Monday on the occasion of the World TB Day.

The NGO said that only 45,384 TB patients have been registered for treatment last year out of the total estimated TB cases. The rest patients are yet to be detected, it added. The report card also revealed that total 3,749 drug resistant TB patients in the State, while 3,340 multi drug resistant TB patients were missing from treatment.

Though the Government has sanctioned enough funds for treatment of the patients, the NGO said, around 55 per cent patients don’t get treatment which is very unfortunate. The NGO questioned about thousands of missing TB cases and continuous reduction of detection rate in the State.

The organisation recommended the Government to increase the number of microscopic centres and numbers of senior treatment supervisors (STSs) to counter the staff crunch and lack of microscopic centres in the State. It also suggested the Government to conduct a regular review by the Health Secretary to improve the quality and process of the treatment. 

The Voice of Patient said that it will try to sensitise the Government and its functionary to think of the reality to control and prevent the largest killer disease which can be avoided.

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