Mysuru is one among the seven cities in the State to get a state-of-the-art facility under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) for faster screening of tuberculosis cases.
The cartridge-based Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (CBNAAT) equipment was installed at K.R. Hospital, a teaching hospital of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI), here on Monday.
District Health Officer H.T. Puttaswamy launched the equipment, which costs around Rs. 40 lakh, installed under the Centre’s RNTCP, with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO), National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and USAID
MMCRI Dean and Director Krishnamurthy told The Hindu that the hi-tech equipment was able to detect cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in a span of two hours. The hospital had the older version of this machine which took around two days to detect such cases, he added.
In addition to Mysuru, this new diagnostic facility had been introduced in Jamkhandi, Bagalkot, Bowring Hospital in Bengaluru, Belgaum, Davangere and Gulbarga.
K.R. Hospital was identified for establishing this facility for reasons like higher patient load.
Patients come from nearby districts, including Ramanagaram, to avail TB screening tests and treatment, Dr. Krishnamurthy said. On an average, 250 TB cases, including relapsed ones, are detected daily. About 70 cases of TB are detected per 1,000 screened in the case of adults.
Once detected, patients must take medicines in the presence of a doctor or a nursing staff during the intense phase of treatment, which lasts for two months, under the Directly Observed Treatment (DOT), which is recommended by the WHO. This makes the treatment effective and the patients compulsorily take medicines without fail under the department’s supervision and evaluation.
They can take the medicines during the continuous phase of their treatment at home, but have to revert to the department for follow-up treatment and collecting drugs with the empty medicine strip.
Cartridge-based Nucleic Acid Amplication Testing installed at K.R. Hospital in Mysuru
