Network of TB laboratories

Darjeeling / Siliguri : Health officials in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri have set up a network of laboratories, among other measures, to rein in tuberculosis (TB) — an illness that still claims a life every 90 seconds in the country.

According to the latest figures for district wise detection of new TB cases (January to June), Darjeeling was on top of the list with 258 cases, followed by Jalpaiguri with 213. The third spot went to Purulia, where 189 new TB cases were detected, officials said.

Under the Revised National TB Control Program, a network of designated microscopy centers to carry out sputum tests has been set up in both the districts.

“But even then, a significant number of patients don’t turn up for the test in time,” said Supriyo Mitra, Darjeeling’s district TB officer.

Any person who has a persistent cough for three weeks must get a sputum test done, he said. “This, however, is not followed by most people mainly because they lack awareness and motivation.”

“We have set up 27 centres including, for the first time, one at a private clinic in Siliguri. All of them have adequate number of lab technicians, and the quality of testing is also monitored regularly,” Mitra said.

In the hills, where it is difficult and expensive for patients to travel to the labs, services are now at their doorstep through sputum collection points at primary health centers. Similarly, in Jalpaiguri, where one-third of the 37 lakh population lives in the tea gardens, 44 sputum collection centres have come up, five of them in the estates in collaboration with the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association, said Biswajit Roy, the district’s TB officer.

“But misconceptions exist, the foremost being the belief that medicine given free under DOTS (direct observation treatment short course) are of poor quality and hence ineffective,” Roy said.

Both officials stressed on the need for awareness campaigns at the grassroots levels.

Source: The Telegraph