HYDERABAD: As the State’s Health Department remained focused on Covid-19, detection of tuberculosis reduced in Telangana over the past few months. From April to June this year, the State notified about 38 per cent less tuberculosis cases compared to the same period last year. According to publicly available data, between April 1 to June 25 this year, Telangana notified 11,070 tuberculosis cases, of which 8,278 cases were from public sector hospitals and 2,792 cases were from private hospitals.
In the same period last year, Telangana had notified 17,767 tuberculosis cases — 12,070 cases in public sector and 5,697 cases from private sector. Joint Director (TB) in the department of public health and State TB Officer Dr A Rajesham said the number of notified people declined in the said period because of mainly two reasons. Firstly, the Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) staff, along with other public health department staff, was deployed for Covid-19 control activities, thus affecting TB identification and notification in public sector.
Secondly, private clinics remained shut during the lockdown period, affecting the TB detection in private sector. He said the notification of TB cases is again on a rise as, in many places where Covid-19 cases are less, the RNTCP staff is carrying out TB related duties again. In addition, private clinics have started functioning, he said. However, in Hyderabad, the RNTCP staff continues to be utilised for Covid duties, as the case load is very high in the GHMC region.