Two cases of TDR-TB in Bangalore, but a promised three-member committee is yet to be formed.
The three-member committee which was supposed to have been formed to probe into Totally Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (TDR-TB) cases in Bangalore, has not yet been formed despite two such clinically-tested confirmed cases coming to light. One of the patients is still absconding.
Following the reports published in DNA on January 11 about the two confirmed cases of TDR-TB, SA Ramdas, the minister for medical education, health and family welfare, had said a three-member committee would be formed to probe into the matter.
However, no such committee has been formed to date, which shows just how seriously the state government is taking this disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis with a new strain.
There is no drug anywhere in the world to stop this evolved bacterium.
The committee was supposed to probe and submit a report on the status of TB in Karnataka.
The state health ministry had also named the people who were to constitute the committee: Dr Suryakanth, officer in-charge, Lady Willingdon State Tuberculosis Centre, Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme; Dr Satyaprakash, senior scientist, National Tuberculosis Institute; and Dr Raghupathi, resident medical officer, state health department.
Eight suspected cases of TDR-TB and two clinically tested confirmed cases had come to light at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, which sent the sputum (phlegm) samples to the Chennai’s Intermediate Reference Lab for confirmation. Dr Shashidhar Buggi, director, SDS Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases had confirmed that there were two TDR-TB cases and they were being treated at the institute itself. Of these cases, one person had gone missing, carrying a very real threat of spreading TDR-TB among Bangalore’s population.
“We have not received any official communication from the Minister’s office and we will only start working once we get some official letter,” an official from Lady Willingdon State Tuberculosis Centre, Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme. The health ministry has, however, denied that there are TDR-TB cases in Bangalore, or even in Karnataka, and wanted biological tests to be conducted for confirmation.
However, the health ministry has confirmed 56 cases of major Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR- TB), and six cases of Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in the state.
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