Soon, UID nos for TB patients

To arrest the rising number of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases, a unique identification (UID) number will be issued to every tuberculosis patient from July 15. The scheme would be implemented all across India. A specialised software will connect all such facilities, so that if patients are issued UID numbers, they are not registered again and duplication of data can be avoided.
Dr Pradeep Gaikwad, joint director, state TB and leprosy division, said, Although the scheme will be officially implemented from July 15, a few centres across the district have already issued UID numbers to more than 2,000 patients.

“The new system can help bring down multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB, which develops when patients leave the treatment midway. If supposing the TB patients start the treatment, leave it midway and go to another district or state and start all over again, the other doctor would know the patient’s history and hence can give medication accordingly,” he said.

He added, “Another benefit is estimating the actual number of TB cases as the migration of patients and frequent switching of treatment facilities can lead to duplication of numbers. It would also let us track down a patient, as all the contact details, besides Aadhar card number, would be mentioned. If the patient stops treatment midway, they would be tracked down to find out the reason.”

However, he said that in the initial phase, only new patients would be issued UID numbers and converting data of old patients to the new system would take time. According to the state health department records of 1.35 lakh tuberculosis patients, there are about 3,000 MDR TB patients. While mortality rate of TB patients is about 4%, mortality rate of MDR TB patients is about 20%.