24 January,2018 10:44 AM IST | Mumbai | Rupsa Chakraborty
The state health department claims that 50 per cent of the TB patients who opt for treatment at private hospitals are not aware of the facilities provided at government hospitals. Pic for Representation
In view of the fact that private hospitals fail to provide information related to TB patients to the government, for the first time the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has joined hands with the state to collect such details from over 50,000 registered pharmacists in the state. This will not only help FDA eradicate the disease from the state by 2025, but also maintain centralised data about patients.
On January 17, the FDA had sent notices to all the registered medical stores asking them to provide the required information to state health officers whenever they ask for it. The data would be collected from 50,000 medical stores across the state, of which 5,000 are in Mumbai.
Confirming the development, Arjun Khadtar, joint director of the FDA drug department said that a meeting was held to identify the new patients in the state. "We have asked all the medical stores registered with us to assist the department in its new initiative. The stores have been asked to maintain separate data about TB drugs that fall under schedule H1," he said.
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"There are three sources from where we can collect data about TB patients - government, private hospitals and medical stores. Now we are trying to reach out to the third section for details. As almost all registered medical stores maintain data about medicines and patients, their information will definitely help," Khadtar added.
According to the state health department, 50 per cent of the TB patients who opt for treatment at private hospitals and clinics are not aware of the facilities government hospitals provide. Even the private hospitals don't provide any compiled data about the patients.
Speaking to mid-day, Dr Sanjeev Kamble, joint director of the state TB department said, "When patients opt for treatment at a DOTS centre, workers keep a tab on them. Suddenly if they opt out of the treatment, which leads to development of drug-resistant TB, our workers go to their houses and counsel them. This can be done if we have the details about patients. As private hospitals don't provide proper information, it becomes difficult for us to know about the patients who have taken treatment and those who have completed it. Hence, we are left with no other option than to depend on medical stores."
5,000
Total no. of medical stores in Mumbai registered with FDA
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