45,000 new TB cases reported in Telangana State

The State has reported 45,160 new cases of Tuberculosis (TB) out of two lakh samples from patients that were tested for the disease in 2016. Incidentally, of the 45,160 cases, only 5,765 cases have been reported from private hospitals in the State.

According to an RTI query filed by president of Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), the State TB Cell has reported that 30 per cent of the total TB cases were from Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.

“The Centre had given an executive order making it mandatory for all private medical institutions to notify TB cases to government. Just 5,765 TB cases getting notified from private hospitals is less and there is a need to improve the compliance,” says Mujtaba Hasan Askari, president HHF.

The total number of Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDRTB) cases in Telangana during 2016 was 905 and in 2015 it was 817 cases. In 2014, the MDRTB



cases in the State were 881 and 1,010 cases in 2013. The total number of MDRTB cases between 2013 and 2016 was at 1,722 in Telangana, the RTI query said.

“There were no figures available for drug resistant TB cases that are being treated at private hospitals. A total of 29,786 TB cases were tested for MDRTB,” Askari said.

In another RTI query to Government Chest Hospital, it has been confirmed that 110 new cases (59 men and 51 women) of MDRTB were reported, five children also had tested positive while three cases of extremely drug resistant TB cases were reported from Hyderabad.

Replying to another RTI query, the State TB officials said they did not have data on the success rate of treatment of MDRTB for 2015 and 2016. The success rate of treating MDRTB patients in 2013 and 2014 was 51.80 per cent and 47.1 per cent, respectively.