CHENNAI: The continuous monitoring of the severely ill Tuberculosis (TB) as part of the Tamil Nadu Kasanoi Erappilla Thittam (TN TB death-free project), launched by the previous government in April 2022, has helped reduce the TB deaths significantly in the state, said a study.
The findings were made in the practice paper published in the BMJ Global Health, an open access, peer-reviewed medical journal in its November 7 edition. The study was conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE), and State TB Cell.
As part of the Tamil Nadu Kasanoi Erappilla Thittam (TN-KET) project, newly diagnosed TB patients are screened for signs of critical illness and prioritised for immediate hospital admission.
At the beginning of the TN-KET project launch in April 2022, the state admitted that 93% of TB confirmed patients are severely ill, and the percentage increased to 98% in October to December 2023. TN-KET is the first state-wide differentiated TB care model in the country launched by the government.
The study said the TB death rate has been reduced by at least 38% in Tamil Nadu in the quarterly analysis of figures between July 2024 and December 2025 because of the framework of triaging patients based on severe illness at diagnosis using five variables (body mass index, pedal oedema, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and ability to stand without support).
As part of the project, the researchers used the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework, one of the methods to assess if a health programme is meeting its objective, to assess TN-KET initiative. The researchers found the triaging of the severely ill TB cases helped reduce the deaths.
Under the TN-KET from April 2022 to December 2025, all adults aged 15 years and above with drug-sensitive TB (60,000 per year) were triaged.
The researchers also said repeat-triaging of TB patients for severe illness two months after diagnosis covered 35% of the severely ill patients.
The researchers also suggested the TN-KET M&E framework may be replicated in other high TB-burden States like Tamil Nadu, which has a strong public health system. Reducing TB related deaths by 95% is one of the WHO End TB targets for 2035.
