Intensive TB screening, tests in U.P. prisons soon

A campaign will be launched for screening and testing of TB, HIV, hepatitis B and C and syphilis in the prisons across state, said National Health Mission, Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Mission Director Dr Heera Lal

Uttar Pradesh will soon launch an intensive screening and testing of jail inmates for tuberculosis (TB) in line with PM Narendra Modi’s pledge to make the country TB-free by 2025, the state government said in a press statement on Thursday.

Once a TB case is confirmed inside a prison, their treatment is started immediately. (For Representation)

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed departments concerned to increase the screening and investigation of TB through mutual coordination, ensuring complete treatment and providing government help, the statement said.

“A campaign will be launched for screening and testing of TB, HIV, hepatitis B and C and syphilis in the prisons across state. Jail doctors and paramedical staff have been trained technically and practically with the help of the UPNP Plus organisation under the leadership of UP State AIDS Control Society for this purpose,” said National Health Mission, Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Mission Director Dr Heera Lal.

“TB makes immunity weak. Hence other opportunistic infections attack the person and thereby the patient becomes vulnerable to other diseases too. Particularly if the patient is a female and in prison,” said Dr Amita Shukla, senior consultant, SC Trivedi Memorial Trust Hospital in Lucknow.

Up to 30 to 40 per cent of TB cases are either detected late or not detected at all. They keep spreading the infection because one TB patient can infect 10 to 15 people in a year.