Rajasthan's 17 districts to get CB-NAAT machines to curb TB

Jaipur: The Centre will install Cartridge-based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test CB-NAAT machines in 17 districts of Rajasthan for rapid diagnosis and treatment of patients with multi as well as extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB).
The CB-NAAT machines are currently installed in Jodhpur, Bikaner and Udaipur districts of the state, State TB officer Dr Anil Saxena told PTI.
He said that on the basis of early reports, treatments for the MDR and XDR will be started in a couple of days, which earlier used to take more than one month.
Dr Narendra Khippal, Chest Specialist of the Institute of Respiratory Diseases, SMS medical college, said that rapid diagnosis of the MDR and XDR TB cases will be very useful in controlling death rate. “We are moving towards short course therapy for MDR TB patients who in present have to take medicines for 18-24 months of costly second line drugs. As per the observational research by World Health Organisation, short course therapy of twelve months can be effective on such patients.
“Rapid diagnosis will be more effectively and helpful in the short course therapy,” Dr Khippal said.
The cases of TB are on decline in the state since 2011 and the authorities want it to go further down in years to come. In Rajasthan, 1,07,783 cases were registered in 2006 and the number of new TB patients was 94,908 that included 1,722 of MDR and 72 of XDR.
“Successful short treatment against drug resistant TB was confirmed in observational research by the WHO and we are taking up that to practice in near future.
“Fast detection and early diagnosis & supervised therapy are key factors in the treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis and for this, the SMS hospital installed LiPA machine which gives early diagnose reports of MDR TB,” he said.
Dr Khippal said that the doctors fraternity was geared up to end TB from the state by following the latest observation and as per the policy of WHO.
“TB is second only to AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent but the number of deaths has dropped in the last ten years.
“Situation has improved in Rajasthan also and doctor fraternity here is geared up to end the disease by following the WHO guidelines,” he said on the occasion of World TB day today.
Treatments for general TB through DOTS, DOTS Plus for MDR and DOTS Plus Plus for XDR TB is available free of cost in government hospitals. (PTI)