Community support to TB patients: Karnataka among top five States

Of the 58,982 notified TB patients till September 30 this year, 37,333 are still under treatment; 76% of these have consented to receive community support

With around 2,000 registered Ni-kshay Mitras in Karnataka, who have adopted Tuberculosis (TB) patients, Karnataka is among the top five States in the country. Overall, 29,831 Ni-kshay Mitras have been registered in the country.

The Union Health Ministry launched the “adopt a TB patient” (Ni-kshay Mitras) initiative on September 9 to fill the critical “community’’ elements into India’s fight towards the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan aimed at eliminating TB by 2025. The initiative allows any individual to adopt one or more TB patients and look after their nutritional and medical needs.

Following a review of TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan conducted by the Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Friday, Arundathi Chandrashekar, State Mission Director, National Health Mission, held a State-level review with district TB officials with focus on scaling up the campaign.

State Health Commissioner Randeep D., who has adopted a TB patient, said improved nutritional status and weight gain in TB patients results in a better treatment outcome. He appealed to people to come forward and enrol as Ni-kshay Mitras.

While the State reported 72,703 notified TB cases in 2021, as many as 58,982 cases (including 14,381 private notifications) have been reported this year till September 30. Of the 58,982 notified patients, 37,333 are still under treatment.

State Deputy Director (TB) Ansar Ahmed told The Hindu on Wednesday that only 76.3% (28,493) of the 37,333 patients under treatment have consented to receive community support. While 2,534 patients have declined community support, the consent of remaining is pending, he said.

He said the State is doing its best to identify missed TB cases by increasing the number of presumptive tests. “To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-3) target for TB (Baseline 2015), we need to reduce TB incidence rate by 80% and TB deaths by 90%. The current death rate is 5.5%,” Dr Ahmed said.