CHENNAI: Modern equipment to enable early detection of tuberculosis, worth `28 crore, will be procured by the health department using corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Tamil Nadu government and IOCL in Chennai on Wednesday.
The initiative is part of the larger National TB elimination programme to make Tamil Nadu tuberculosis free by 2025. Once implemented, 272 primary health centres will be able to screen patients for tuberculosis with rapid molecular testing equipment.
Around 20 lakh sputum samples were tested across the state in 2023 and 97,000 tuberculosis cases were confirmed. Another 2,500 drug-resistant TB cases were identified by testing nearly 3.9 lakh sputum samples using rapid molecular testing equipment.