Daily drug regimen to kick-start soon

PUNE: The daily drug treatment for tuberculosis will be rolled out in the state in the next few days. It will replace the existing 'three times a week' treatment and will be implemented across the country in a phased manner.

The move follows findings by experts which revealed that the old regimen led to increasing instances of drug resistance and relapse. Relapse occurs when a patient declared 'cured' by a doctor tests positive again.

"Preparedness to roll out the daily drug treatment for TB patients in Maharashtra is in the final stage. Medical officers at government run hospitals have undergone training and now training of community health workers like ASHA and anaganwadi workers is on cards. If everything goes as planned, the daily drug regimen would begin early next month," said state tuberculosis officer Sanjeev Kamble.

He said the new regimen will benefit over 1.25 lakh patients in Maharashtra. "The new treatment protocol focuses on daily treatment as against intermittent drug therapy. It will drastically raise the need of TB drugs which will be provided free to all patients in the state," he said.

"There are many patients under private care who are not regular in their treatment. Skipping drugs or leaving the treatment midway can lead to multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) or in the worst case, even death," he added.

Narendra Thakur, head of the city unit of tuberculosis at

Pune Municipal Corporation

said, "The state health department had organized a day-long training workshop, but we could not send our medical officers as they are currently tied up in diagnostic and treatment of the rising dengue and chikungunya cases ."

Yogesh Jain, public health physician and paediatrician at

Jan Swasthya Sahyog

, said, "We can make many changes to improve the outcomes of TB patients in India by offering drug-sensitivity testing, supplementary food while preventing childhood disease through contact screening. However, the most urgent need is introducing daily drug regimens for all tuberculosis patients."