Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Doctors dispute Govt. claim on TB control

By R. Sujatha

CHENNAI APRIL 18. The claims by the Government that tuberculosis has been contained do not seem to ring true based on studies by some doctors who notice a resurgence of the disease. At least 75 per cent of those treated by the Health India Foundation, a non-government organisation in the past year, were found to suffer from either TB or were high risk HIV group.

Of the 1049 patients treated in the past year by C. N. Deivanayagam, an allopathic doctor and his two Siddha advisers here, 213 were diagnosed with Pneumo Cystis Carinii known in medical parlance as PCP. This kind of pneumonia affects HIV patients. While 20 were found sero negative they exhibited clinical PCP symptoms. More alarming was that 563 people suffered from TB.

The patients who approached him were from the lower income group and the neglected socio-economic strata, and 91per cent of the sick belonged to the productive age group of 21-50. Eighty per cent of the patients were referral cases from around the State, while the rest were from other parts of the country.

Contrary to popular belief, even the State-run hospitals have not come forward to treat these patients Dr. Deivanayagam said. Patients with low access to medicare approach him for their monthly dose of medicines. He had no provision available for dispensing drugs for either TB or AIDS.

Priced at Rs. 350 to 400, the medicines are unaffordable for people who earn between Rs. 800 and 2,000 a month. Women, who formed 30 per cent of the study group, either assisted their husbands in the business or were involved in making garlands or worked in petty shops.

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• Doctors dispute Govt. claim on TB control
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