Gurugram health dept to rope in corporates for adopting TB treatment programme

The district health department has decided to take help of private companies for tuberculosis (TB) treatment in the district by introducing adoption programmes through corporate social responsibility, said officials on Wednesday adding that an outreach programme will be conducted on Thursday on the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day at the deputy commissioner’s office

The district health department has decided to take help of private companies for tuberculosis (TB) treatment in the district by introducing adoption programmes through corporate social responsibility, said officials on Wednesday adding that an outreach programme will be conducted on Thursday on the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day at the deputy commissioner’s office.

Staff-members-of-Mother-Clara-Hospital-conduct-a-programme-to-raise-awareness-on-tuberculosis-in-Bhopal-on-Thursday-Mujeeb-Faruqui-HT-photo

Dr Keshav Sharma, deputy civil surgeon for tuberculosis treatment in the district, said, “We have been focusing on different initiatives to improve treatment of TB in the district. In January, we started treatment of latent TB for household contacts of those with pulmonary tuberculosis, so that they don’t suffer from the disease in future. Now, for the first time, we are trying to engage corporates to adopt the TB treatment programme, which will help us in early detection of cases.”

Officials said every year, around 7,000 cases of TB are reported from Gurugram, of which around 168-180 are regular patients with multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB since 2013. Around 10% of the total TB cases reported in the district are paediatric cases.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that can be treated with a combination of antibiotic drugs. However, patients with MDR-TB are immune to the first line of drugs and need the second line of toxic drugs, said officials.

“The treatment for multi-drug resistant TB continues for over 18-20 months and costs up to ₹18 lakh, which is paid by the government, but help is needed for further spreading awareness. In the district, a screening is done, especially for children under five years living in houses where someone is already suffering from TB, to find out if a child has active TB,” said Sharma.

“If a child has active TB, then proper treatment protocol is followed; if they do not have active TB, then preventive therapy is started where the child is given daily medication for six months, as it reduces chances of contracting TB by 33% in future. For such activities and detailed screening, we are trying to collaborate with corporates,” he added.

Meanwhile, doctors from private hospitals in the city said they witnessed an increase in patients, who have suffered from Covid-19, now contracting tuberculosis.

Dr Manoj Goel, director for pulmonology at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, said, “During Covid-19, we found that in some patients, especially those with the serious form of the viral disease, there was an increase in tuberculosis, which manifested as concomitant pneumonia, lung abscess, accumulation of fluid in the lung membranes called pleural effusion. In our experience, there is an increase of TB by 5% in Covid-19 infected and recovered patients, primarily involving lungs, lymph glands and membranes of lungs called pleural effusion. The co-existing TB led to delayed recovery of the Covid-19 patients.”

He added that if a patient has suffered from Covid-19 in the past and again has fever, cough or blood in sputum, all of which don’t respond to the usual treatment, then one should consult a doctor to rule out tuberculosis.