Government monitoring number of patients with as many as 124 cases detected statewide
After last year’s controversy over extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in Mumbai, the state government has started monitoring XDR-TB cases. In the last six months, 32 cases of the deadliest form of TB were detected in Pune.
While Maharashtra diagnosed 9,600 multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients over the year, the number of XDR-TB patients still causes a worry as the number is 124 patients across the state. Mumbai has the most number of cases of XDR-TB patients.
The number of suspected cases visiting major government hospitals has gone up this year, with Mumbai, Nashik and Nagpur recording the highest number of detection rate of 191, 113 and 109 patients respectively.
Dr Manohar Pawar, joint director, directorate of health services, Pune said, “Statistics show an increase in the number of patients. However, the number of patients in the state are constant. The fact that the diagnosis methods have become more accurate and the awareness spread among people is contributing to the statistical increase. There are more number of patients who have been cautious and are taking the diagnosis. Hence more patients are detected with TB.”
XDR-TB cases have shown a worrying increase in the state and their number has shown almost 100% rise in the districts of Maharashtra in the past one year. Sources said 30 XDR-TB cases were detected in the state last year. However, 124 positive cases were diagnosed this year with less than 40 per cent cure rate.
The disease has shown 100% rise in five other districts including Pune, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Latur and Akola with the lowest number of patients.
Tough regimen for cure
“The success rate of the treatment depends entirely on the patient. Once the patient is diagnosed with XDR-TB, it takes more than 27 months to cure him or her. During treatment, the patient needs to have multiple medicines and injections and cannot miss a single dose. Thus, the success rate has been seemingly low among patients,” said Dr Manohar Pawar, joint director, directorate of health services, Pune.
Mumbai’s Hinduja hospital to start testing for the disease
There is good news in store for citizens with the state government announcing initiatives for extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) diagnostic centres. The state TB department is preparing on a war footing for better diagnostic and treatment facilities.
After rolling out MDR-TB treatment in several districts, they are now planning more diagnostic centres for XDR-TB.
The government has given a thumbs up to set up a XDR-TB diagnostic centre at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai. “We have obtained all the permission for setting up the diagnostic centre at Mumbai. Once the equipment is in, we will be able to start the diagnosis,” said Dr Manohar Pawar, joint director, directorate of health services, Pune.
The patients will now be able to start their treatment early. “We have over 20 centres for MDR-TB diagnosis over the years. However, whenever the case is of XDR-TB, the samples were sent to Bangalore for testing. This process was time consuming as it took over a month for obtaining the reports,” said Dr Pawar.
Meanwhile, the directorate of health services has also proposed setting up over 50 Genexpert machines for diagnosing MDR-TB in the state.
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