Telangana's TB cases rise to over 2 lakh

Hyderabad: Despite efforts to curb tuberculosis, the disease is spreading in Telangana. The State saw steep increase. in TB cases with nearly 2 lakh cases diagnosed across the State in the last three years. The cases have gone up in Telangana as well as in the State's capital. The city saw a spike in the number of TB cases with more than 35,000 cases registered in Greater Hyderabad limits from 2019 to 2021. Whereas, from 2016 to 2018 there were 24,000 cases in the city.

According to the Joint Director for TB Treatment in Telangana, the State saw a total of 1,95,454 cases of TB from 2019 to 2021. As part of an attempt to ascertain the number of cases, an official survey was conducted across the State.

According to Chief Medical Officer, National Tuberculosis Institute, the upward trend has been across the country as 40 per cent of the population carry Tuberculosis infection in their body, but only 10 per cent get TB disease and it the most common cause if infertility.

Chief Medical Officer said, "TB is a highly infectious disease, if not treated in time, it can result in even death."

During the Covid-19 pandemic as the State witnessed two waves of the virus, there were a large number of people got affected with TB.

Speaking to The Hans India, Joint Director for TB in Telangana, Dr A Rajesham said, "The number of TB cases in Hyderabad is high, this also includes patients from various districts and States for the treatment of TB and with Chest Hospital a major centre for treating TB patients, here Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (DRTB) centre has been set up along with separate dedicated laboratory with NAAT (Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) for better diagnosis and treatment."

The National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP), a public health programme for early diagnosis and treatment services for TB, has been doubled up in Telangana with an aim to make 'TB-free Telangana by 2025.

As part of which, the State TB Cell has been formed in the State. IEC Officer, Jitendra S, said that under the NTEP programme, free diagnosis and treatment services will be being provided, including Rs 500 as additional financial support will be directly transferred to TB patients' bank accounts under the 'Nikshay Poshan Yojana' during their treatment period.

Under this programme, 33 District TB Centres (DTCs), 171 TB Units (TU) (Sub District Level) Hospitals, 550 Designated Microscopy Centers (DMCs) and 34 stand alone Cartridge-Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (CBNAAT) Labs and plus one mobile ACF van and 90 TrueNAAT machines have been set up. Dr C Sumalatha, Epidemiologist, STDC said, "To increase screening of TB CBNAAT testing, facilities have been made available. A total 38 in public hospitals and 16 in private hospitals as the programme includes private hospital TB affected patients. In Hyderabad, six hospitals, including Chest Hospital, IRL, Gandhi Osmania, NIMS and Nilofer has been provided with CBNAAT facilities."