AP
A nurse administers a shot to a tuberculosis (TB) patient at a government hospital in Guwahati. File Photo
Main goal is to provide universal access to early diagnosis and effective treatment
The national strategic plan for TB control for
2012-2017 developed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has
raised the bar for tackling the fast- growing TB epidemic in the
country.
The main goal of the strategic plan is to
provide universal access to early diagnosis and effective treatment.
According to the draft report of the fifth Joint Monitoring Mission
(JMM) of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme , the
strategic plan, if implemented in full earnest, would save about
7,50,000 lives over the next five years.
To achieve this goal, the JMM has recommended some commendable strategies.
At
the outset it has recognised the compulsion to comprehensively engage
with the private sector for “prompt and accurate diagnosis, and
appropriate care.”
The government had very recently
made TB a notifiable disease. This will help in maintaining a national
record of every patient who is diagnosed with TB by doctors in the
private and public sector. In order to achieve maximum co-operation from
the doctors, the report has, for the first time, spelled out the need
to provide incentives for reporting cases.
Apart from
stopping easy availability of anti-TB drugs, there are plans of
“restricting the availability of impending new anti-TB drugs to
authorised outlets.” This would be done by putting in place stringent
and accountable distribution controls.
Another novel
recommendation is to make available subsidised anti-TB drug kits to the
private sector on a quid pro basis. The availability of the subsidised
kits would be “linked to notification and programme-provided treatment
support.”
A tectonic shift is being planned in the
way new cases are detected. The current system is a passive one, wherein
case detection is initiated by the patients themselves. This greatly
reduces case detection. To overcome this hurdle, there are plans of
introducing a “provider-initiated screening pathway.” This will focus on
clinical risk groups and socially vulnerable groups.
Another
way of increasing the number of TB patients diagnosed is to provide
automated electronic payments for both referrals and treatment support.
Using automated electronic payment mode would avoid the problems of
delay or failure in payment.
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