Kolkata: The Centre has stopped the supply of Tuberculosis (TB) medicines prompting the state government to arrange crores of funds to emergency handle the situation. Treatment of around 1.5 lakh patients would have been stopped if the state had not intervened, sources in the Health department said.
Bengal had almost exhausted TB medicines which were received under the National TB Control Programme. The state government had therefore floated tenders a few weeks ago to procure medicines. It was learnt that the state Health department has procured 26 lakh strips of medicines at an estimated cost of few crores of rupees.
A sudden pause in providing funds for the medicines of a “notified” disease by the Centre ahead of Lok Sabha elections has put the state in real challenge. The Centre is bound to give medicines to the patients at a free-of-cost as TB is a “notified” disease. If a patient is detected with TB, the name has to be included in the website of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP). The Centre in January this year had announced that India will be free from TB by the year 2026. As a part of its programme of ‘elimination of tuberculosis in Bengal’, the state Health department had earlier issued an advisory to all the District Magistrates asking them to improve the existing infrastructure related to the treatment and community support to TB patients. Bengal is committed to achieving ‘TB Mukto Bangla’ by 2026. The state has sanctioned around 2,500 additional posts for ASHA workers in all the districts.
The state Health department earlier wrote to the Chief Medical Officers of Health in districts to ensure additional incentives to ASHA workers working under NTEP. The state had launched a telemedicine service for the treatment of TB patients.
The medical officers at the telemedicine-enabled hubs in the portal Swasthya Sathi Ingit provide tele-consultation services to TB patients or presumptive TB cases attending telemedicine-enabled Su-Swasthya Kendras. Staff nurses make tele-consultation calls through Swasthya Ingit portal in audio-video conference mode or instant chat mode and provide printouts of prescriptions as per prevailing norms.