<p>The state-run tuberculosis control programme caters to just about half of the total patient load and those infected are not completely cured, a study has found. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Out of the 27 lakh estimated TB patients in 2013, a mere 53% (about 14 lakh) were registered for treatment at the government-run clinics; 45% (above 12 lakh) finished the treatment and 39% (10 lakh) experienced recurrence-free survival after one year.<br /><br />About 760,000 (in 2013) TB patients never reached government diagnostic clinics and either remained untreated or received poor quality care in India’s private sector, said a six-nation study involving nine researchers (including the Indian council of Medical Research director general Soumya Swaminathan).<br /><br />Researchers dug into the Indian healthcare system to demonstrate how thousands of patients are missed out despite government’s tall claims that at least one TB centre exists in each district. <br /><br />A cascading effect was observed at each stage, causing the loss of thousands of patients who fail to complete the treatment. <br /><br />“The very first gap in the overall cascade (out of an estimated 2.7 million TB patients in India) is about 760,000 patients or about 25% of all TB patients in India. They are probably getting treated in the private sector, though some of them may remain untreated without any TB care,” said Ramnath Subbaraman, a professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston who led the team.<br /><br /> “For patients diagnosed in government TB centres but do not get enrolled for treatment, a few studies suggest that only a small percentage of these patients end up in private sector care, so it is likely that many of these patients remain untreated,” Subbaraman told DH.<br /><br />Quality of healthcare<br /><br />Though more than 500,000 patients were evaluated at the government TB clinics, they were not diagnosed or treated there. <br /><br />The quality of diagnosis, however, is suspect in the absence of modern tools.<br /><br /> “Out of 61,000 multi-drug-resistant TB patients who reached government TB clinics, only 6,413, or 11%, completed appropriate treatment and survived for one year after treatment without experiencing disease relapse.<br /><br /> A key conclusion is that the government needs to address the leaks in the care cascade in the public sector,” said co-author Madhukar Pai, from McGill University in Canada.<br /><br />The findings have been published in the October 25 issue of the journal PLOS Medicine.</p>
<p>The state-run tuberculosis control programme caters to just about half of the total patient load and those infected are not completely cured, a study has found. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Out of the 27 lakh estimated TB patients in 2013, a mere 53% (about 14 lakh) were registered for treatment at the government-run clinics; 45% (above 12 lakh) finished the treatment and 39% (10 lakh) experienced recurrence-free survival after one year.<br /><br />About 760,000 (in 2013) TB patients never reached government diagnostic clinics and either remained untreated or received poor quality care in India’s private sector, said a six-nation study involving nine researchers (including the Indian council of Medical Research director general Soumya Swaminathan).<br /><br />Researchers dug into the Indian healthcare system to demonstrate how thousands of patients are missed out despite government’s tall claims that at least one TB centre exists in each district. <br /><br />A cascading effect was observed at each stage, causing the loss of thousands of patients who fail to complete the treatment. <br /><br />“The very first gap in the overall cascade (out of an estimated 2.7 million TB patients in India) is about 760,000 patients or about 25% of all TB patients in India. They are probably getting treated in the private sector, though some of them may remain untreated without any TB care,” said Ramnath Subbaraman, a professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston who led the team.<br /><br /> “For patients diagnosed in government TB centres but do not get enrolled for treatment, a few studies suggest that only a small percentage of these patients end up in private sector care, so it is likely that many of these patients remain untreated,” Subbaraman told DH.<br /><br />Quality of healthcare<br /><br />Though more than 500,000 patients were evaluated at the government TB clinics, they were not diagnosed or treated there. <br /><br />The quality of diagnosis, however, is suspect in the absence of modern tools.<br /><br /> “Out of 61,000 multi-drug-resistant TB patients who reached government TB clinics, only 6,413, or 11%, completed appropriate treatment and survived for one year after treatment without experiencing disease relapse.<br /><br /> A key conclusion is that the government needs to address the leaks in the care cascade in the public sector,” said co-author Madhukar Pai, from McGill University in Canada.<br /><br />The findings have been published in the October 25 issue of the journal PLOS Medicine.</p>
