BENGALURU: Despite the fact that the Karnataka has been hit by three waves of the pandemic, the State Tuberculosis Division has received 14 awards for its annual performance.
The Central TB division presented five districts in the state with "silver" for reduction of 40 per cent and nine "bronze" honors for observing a 20 per cent drop in cases from the baseline.
Under the initiative of "Sub-National Certification of Progress Towards TB Free Status", the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recognises and awards the best performing districts and State for reducing the TB burden as compared to 2015.
Congratulating the TB officers and health care staff working towards making Karnataka TB-free, Dr K Sudhakar, Minister for Health and Family Welfare took to twitter and announced the winning districts.
While Bengaluru Urban, Belagavi, Udupi, Uttaara Kannada and Yadgir districts have managed to bag silver medals with 40 per cent reduction in TB cases; Bengaluru rural, Bijapur, Chamarajnagar, Davanagere, Dharwad, Kolar, Mandya, Shivamogga and Tumkur are the nine districts with 20 per cent reduction in TB burden.
Of the 38.02 lakh individuals screened among Covid recovered individuals and their households, around 243 new TB cases were identified. Amongst 77.81 lakh vulnerable individuals screened 470 new TB Cases were found in 2021.
As per the State TB report by Joint Director-TB, Karnataka - Dr. Ramesh Chandra Reddy, the state, despite the pandemic, has been able to increase it's target to reduce the burden by five percent from last year. In 2019, the state target could be achieved by 71 per cent while in 2020, mainly due to the pandemic, it dropped to 49 per cent and now it has reached to 54 per cent.
The total lost to follow up rate which was 10 per cent in 2009 is reduced to 2 per cent in 2021. The success rates of TB treatment have improved from 76.9 per cent in 2018 to 81.5 per cent in 2021. Also, the cases from 85,700 patients has dropped to 68,885 in 2021.
National TB Eliminating Program(NTEP) Karnataka is aiming at Universal Access and Zero TB deaths as a part of End TB Strategy. Around 30000 health facilities have been registered on NIKSHAY and a total of 19665 TB cases have been notified from private sector in 2021. Meanwhile in the state is also focussing on Paediatric tuberculosis (i.e., TB among the population aged less than 14 years).
"In our state screening of TB among SAM, children is of high priority. There are exclusive paediatric drugs with different weight bands which helps in successful outcomes," the report said.
These TB officers will be awarded in New Delhi on March 24 on occasion of World TB Day and given Rs 2 lakh cash prize.