NEW DELHI: Faced with the increasing spread of drug-resistant TB, the Union Health Ministry is replacing the current TB control programme with a Daily Dose campaign. The new programme will initially be implemented in five states.
The new campaign is being introduced on the private public partnership (PPP) model to ensure wider participation. According to Dr Sunil D Khaparde, a key official in the Health Ministry, private doctors treating TB patients are likely to be offered a reward of `1,000 per patient under the scheme. Besides, all medicine will be provided free of cost.
Based on the success of the campaign, it will be extended to 18 more states, including Delhi, in the second phase. In Delhi, the problem has attained serious proportions due to the constant influx of people in search of jobs and other opportunities.
The decision to introduce the Daily Dose programme was taken after a study conducted by the Health Ministry found that the old regimen led to increasing instances of drug resistance and relapse.
Under the earlier programme based on the WHO recommendation, the anti-TB dose was being administered every second day. But it was observed that many patients missed their second dose, which meant a gap of four days, leading to increasing drug resistance.
Studies undertaken in several parts of the country showed that relapses were closer to 10 per cent or more in patients who received intermittent treatment, compared with 5 per ecnt among patients who received the doses daily.
According to figures given by the ministry, each year almost 28 lakh new cases of TB are diagnosed, but the actual figure is considered to be higher. One consolation point, however, is that the instances of TB cases have come down by 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 57 per cent in the last 10 years.