Lack of equipment hits TB patients in Mumbai civic hospitals

The civic body has turned its back on TB patients. The BMC-run 1,200-bed Sewri TB Hospital, touted as Asia's largest TB hospital, has been refusing care to sputum positive patients for lack of infrastructure.
Neela Shah, 27, (name changed), wife of a Sewri TB Hospital employee Nitesh, 30, underwent a lung operation on Friday at a private hospital in Thane, because the BMC hospital refused to accommodate her.

"She was hanging between life and death. We had to spend nearly Rs1.5 lakh in the private hospital," said Nitesh.

A sputum culture is a test to detect and identify TB bacteria infecting the lungs or breathing passages. If organisms that can cause infection grow in culture test, the patient is sputum positive. 

Since March 2012, 75 patients have been operated on in Sewri TB Hospital by removing lesions in parts of lungs rotten by mycobacterium tuberculosis. A senior doctor in the hospital said over 40 sputum positive patients in dire need of a lung surgery were turned away.

Patients may turn sputum negative after a six-month to two-year course of TB medication. "But in many cases, that doesn't work and lung damage continues. Such patients have nowhere to go," said another doctor. "Sputum positive patients had to seek help from private hospitals as anaesthetists refused to operate on them. They pose more risk to the operating doctors as the latter can get infected."

And all this is because of lack of a Scavenging System Unit. The unit, which costs lakhs, is an absolutely essential contraption while operating on patients with infectious ailments. "Anyone who inhales air exhaled by a TB patient is susceptible to it. Hence, the unit ensures that all gases are exhaled by the patient are taken out of the (operation) theatre. It facilitates a contamination-free atmosphere," said Dr Krishna Joshi, chief consultant anaesthesiologist at Sewri TB Hospital.

Another senior doctor said, "At least two anaesthetists from BMC hospitals had contracted TB after operating on patients. Hence, it was decided in 2013, that anaesthetists would not operate on sputum positive patients in absence of a scavenging unit."

Despite repeated attempts, BMC additional health commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh remained unavailable for comment.