The detection of 12 cases of totally drug resistant (TDR) tuberculosis (TB) in Maharashtra has set the alarm bells ringing in the Union health ministry. Apart from rushing a three-member team of experts to Mumbai to look into these cases, the ministry has called for the detailed case histories of these patients. It is for the first time in the country that the cases of TDR have been officially reported in the country.
A senior health ministry official told this newspaper that, “It is for the first time that cases of TDR have been officially reported here as there are few laboratories in India that have the accreditation to diagnose such cases and it takes a lot of time to confirm these cases.”
What the health ministry is worried about at present is if these patients developed the TDR form of TB due to either an incorrect or irregular treatment regimen under private practitioners. While it is yet to be ascertained under whose medical guidance these patients were undergoing treatment, health experts on Sunday told this newspaper that a meeting of clinicians, laboratory experts from Hinduja hospital, municipality have been called by the deputy director general (DDG) Ashok Kumar on Wednesday to get more details.
Every year about 18,00,000-20,000 lakh cases of TB are detected in India, out of which 16,00,000 cases undergo treatment under the government sector. Even as the TB deaths fell to 1.4 million in 2009, after reaching 1.8 million in 2003, a recent WHO 2011 global tuberculosis control report revealed 73,000 of the notified new TB cases in India were multi drug resistant.
This is for the first time that Hinduja Hospital in Mahim, Mumbai, found the TDR-TB bacilli in 12 patients during their research in October 2011. While, one of them died a month later, the hospital has since reported the death of one more patient.