By IANS,
New Delhi: There are no cases of total drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) reported in the country and the cases reported by a Mumbai hospital fall in the category of extensively drug-resistant TB, according to a report submitted to the health ministry Friday.
A central team comprising senior chief medical officer, Central TB Division (CTD), consultant (Drug Resistant TB), and national programme officer (laboratory) was sent to Mumbai Tuesday following reports of P.D. Hinduja hospital detecting first cases of total drug resistant TB in India.
The team submitted its report to the health ministry Friday.
According to the report, out of the 12 reported patients, nine were traced and found to be stable on the current treatment while three have since died.
“A careful audit of their prescriptions revealed that these three patients had received erratic, unsupervised second-line drugs, added individually and often in incorrect doses from multiple private practitioners in an attempt to cure their multi-drug resistant tuberculosis,” the report highlights.
Following the cases, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and the Maharashtra government have decided to strengthen the TB service delivery systems in the city.