Pandemic may derail India’s goal of eradicating tuberculosis by ’25
From April to June, 340,000 TB patients were notified to govt, down 47.6% compared to April-June 2019
Covid-19 may make it difficult for India to achieve its aim of eradicating tuberculosis (TB) by 2025. The notification of TB cases has sharply declined in January-June, compared to the same period in 2019, according to real-time data available with the Union health ministry, indicating that the pandemic has severely hit TB notification services.
While 914,000 TB cases were reported between January and June, 1.25 million cases came into light in the same period in 2019, representing a 26% fall in case notifications, showed government data. Private sector notifications have dipped by 106,729 cases, or 30%. Close to 340,000 TB patients were notified to the government during the nationwide lockdown from April to June, down 47.6% compared to April-June 2019, when 648,000 patients were notified. Private sector notifications dipped to 86,470 cases, compared to 186,000 in April-June 2019, the data showed.
“Drop in TB notification is a cumulative result arising from several causes. The most important being physical lack of access to TB services in view of the transport restrictions, deployment of TB staff to covid-19 and use of TB diagnostic technologies for covid-19 diagnosis,” said Dr Nerges Mistry, director, Foundation for Medical Research.
As TB and covid have common symptoms, it may have given rise to fears of stigma for both diseases, affecting early reporting, Mistry said.
Additionally, during the peak of the lockdown in April, TB notifications saw a major dip—only 80,725 TB patients were notified in India as compared to 221,632 cases reported in April 2019, which is a huge dip of 63% cases notified to the government. Notifications from the private sector also plunged during that time—from 65,598 cases in April 2019 to 17,883 cases in April this year, a drop of 72%.
“Besides late and wrong diagnosis, covid-19 is likely to engender poor outcomes in TB due to compromised poor patient follow-up and a leaky supply chain of drugs to distal treatment centres. Practical alternative models of service delivery such as tele consults can spur better health-seeking behaviours and diagnosis,” Mistry said.
Mistry advised that private sector diagnostic facilities could be employed to bridge the gap caused by the repurposing of public sector diagnostic machines for covid-19.
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First Published:27 Jul 2020, 07:30 AM IST
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