State consistently logging over 100 new TB cases every month PANAJI:
THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
At a recent campaign against Tuberculosis under the aegis of the Primary Health Centre in Ponda, a total of 29 chest X-rays were conducted indicating a hyper-local shift in strategy with Goa far from meeting the 2025 national deadline to eradicate the disease in the country.
Awareness sessions and TB screenings were held in the Ponda campaign and in suspect cases X-Rays were done using a portable, hand-held machine at a shelter home in Khandepar and at two other old-age homes in the locality.
Earlier last month, similar interventions targeting vulnerable sections of the local community were also held in Corlim and Navelim
With the State consistently logging over a 100 new TB cases every month, Goa just like the rest of the country is struggling to achieve targets in the nation's ambitious quest to eradicate the disease by the end of 2025.
DHS sources said, close to 2,000 new cases were added this year and over 150 cured of the disease. At the start of last year in January alone 189 new TB cases were logged and since then over 150 new cases were reported every month.
The goal to eradicate TB by 2025 was set by the Union Health Ministry back in 2023 and conferring 'TB Mukt' (TB free) status on village panchayats was one of the plan's features.
The criteria for panchayats to be declared 'TB Mukth' requires logging of zero to one case with at least 30 samples per 1,000 population tested in a whole year.
In Goa, only two of its 191 village panchayats have achieved this 'TB Mukth' milestone -- Usgao and Shiroda -- for the year 2023. At an event in Panaji, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane presented the 'TB Mukt' certificate to the two sarpanchas of Usgao, which incidentally is part of his Valpoi constituency, and Shiroda.
According to the 'India TB Report 2024', Goa has had a lower number of cases than the national average, having logged 133 cases per one-lakh population in 2023 as against 179 per one-lakh population in the rest of the country in 2023.
However, the State's mortality rate among TB patients is relatively higher than the national average in the two successive years of 2022 and 2023.
The mortality was 8.3% in 2022 and it climbed to 9.6% in 2023 while the all-India average is 3.9%.
Alcoholism and type-II diabetes among TB patients have been identified as the two most contributing factors for Goa's higher mortality rate, where the TB elimination programme focuses on supporting patients with free treatment and an additional monetary grant to support dietary needs, key to curing patients.
"Each patient is given free treatment and also a direct financial benefit of Rs 500 per month to support their diet," Dr Gaunekar said.
Additionally, to tackle the high mortality rate, the DHS encourages patients with an alcohol problem to admit themselves at the dedicated TB hospital housed in a Portuguese-era edifice located at Margao's Monte where in addition to the TB treatment they are also given de-addiction treatment and support when they start to experience withdrawal symptoms.
