With multi drug resistant (MDR) TB emerging as a major challenge, the Government has decided to create the fourth DR TB Centre of the State in Koraput.
The Centre to be established at the Koraput DHH under Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) will provide treatment to the patients afflicted by MDR TB in the Southern districts. Drug resistant TB centres are functional at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, MKCGMCH Berhampur and VSSMCH Burla.
The centres have been set up to extend the Programmatic management of drug resistant TB (PMDT) services effectively and intensively across the State. The centres are providing pre-treatment evaluation as well as treatment to diagnose DR TB patients. So far, more than 300 patients suffering from DR TB have been diagnosed and put through the directed treatment at these three centres. MDR TB has emerged one of the most serious public health concerns in the country. While around. 2.3 million people contract TB every year and around 0.32 million of them succumb, India has the second highest burden of MDR TB after China with an estimated 99,000 cases detected every year. The situation is more than alarming as one MDR TB patient can infect 10 to 15 persons every year. It is estimated that around three per cent of new TB cases and 15 per cent of existing patients might be carrying MDR TB strains.
To counter the rapidly proliferating menace, the RNTCP has extended DOTS Plus programme to all the districts. Posts for one DOTS Plus supervisor and one TB HIV supervisor have been created in each district unit. Already 23 districts have completed recruitment with the rest to complete the process soon.
While the World TB Day 2013 was observed on Sunday on the theme of 'zero TB deaths in my lifetime', Odisha has been projected as the front-runner in terms of successful implementation of RNTCP. In 2012, around 49, 192 new cases were detected of which more than 35 per cent were cured through treatment, reflecting a success rate of 88 per cent.
The annual new sputum positive case detection rate was around 61 per cent. "We need to raise the detection rate to 70 per cent. There should also be more effective coordination between RNTCP and National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) to tackle HIV-induced TB cases," Health Minister Damodar Rout emphasised at State-level programme.