Inform government about TB patient, earn Rs 1,000 from April 1

BENGALURU: If you know of any tuberculosis patient and tip off the district TB officer beginning April 1, you will get an incentive of Rs 1,000, thanks to a state government initiative.

The informer could be the patient himself/herself, a family member, neighbour, the chemist dispensing medicine or the doctor incharge of the treatment.

Not just that. According to Dr Ramachandra Bairy, joint director (tuberculosis), health and family welfare department, the government would also start a scheme to stabilize the nutritional intake of the TB patient by offering Rs 500 per month as nutritional aid till the time he/she is declared TB-free.

“The scheme will be rolled out from April 1. The government would then track the patient’s treatment protocol. With these initiatives, we aim to increase the number of identified TB cases to 1 lakh per year,” said Dr Bairy.

In 2017, Karnataka identified 68,000 active TB cases during a door-to-door survey of suspected patients.

A Government of India notification has mandated chemists to register details of patients to whom they sell TB drugs and notify the state government. The state health and family welfare department is holding talks with the chemists’ association and a training programme will conducted shortly.

“This is not a tough task for us, as the prescription will contain the patient’s details. We will have to maintain a register of sale of TB-related drugs and update the government about the patient, his or her age, drugs sold and details of the dosage along with the name of the doctor who prescribed the drug,” said MK Mayanna, president, Bruhat Bengaluru Chemists and Druggists’ Association.

Doctors have hailed the move to involve druggists in combating TB menace. “Unlike other medicines, these drugs can’t be sold over the counter without prescription. This kind of mechanism is required for eradicating TB by 2025,” said Dr K S Satish, TB specialist and pulmonologist.

However, he rued that the issue of TB patients approaching alternative therapists and quacks, who do not follow the treatment protocol, has gone unaddressed. “TB drugs have to be prescribed based on the body weight of the person after required tests are done. Treatment protocol is flouted by alternative therapists and quacks, who put patients at risk,” he added.