Source: Hueiyen News Service / Lukhoi Wangkhem
Imphal, July 02 2009:
Not long ago the TB Hospital situated at Chingmeirong used to be brimming with TB patients under the supervision of Manipur State TB Society which had taken up various patient-friendly measures.
But today the number of patients who come for treatment to the Hospital has radically gone down.
The kind of treatment that had been revised by the National TB Control Programme known as Directly Observed Treatment Short Course, in brief DOTs was introduced in Manipur also way back in 1994 .
Subsequently, with the setting up of TB treatment centres in every district of the state in 2002 and the subsequent home treatment programme, the number of patients at the hospital is dwindling, according to state TB Hospital employees.
Among the 600 DOTS centres in the state, 550 are said to be functioning substantially well.
The remaining centres are not functioning well due to shortage of laboratory technician.
The TB Division of the Centre and the state government authority have already been urged to fill the shortage manpower of the lab technicians.
It may be mentioned that the lab technicians' task is to collect the sputum of suspected TB patients and sent them to designated Microscopy Centres which enable the doctors to prescribe medicines after examining them.
A training programme for lab technician has been undergoing now at the state TB Training and Demonstration Centre, Lamphel under the aegis of the State TB Control Society.
Four lab technicians from Nagaland have also participated in the training programme.
Beside this, various NGO workers have also been given training.
The NGO workers are said to collect the sputum of TB suspect patients from interior areas and send them to the designated Microscopy Centres.
The State TB Training and Demonstration Centre, Lamphel is the training centres of lab technicians of Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram.
The centre has also imparted training to Senior Tuberculosis Supervisors (STLS), who are appointed to examine and verify the sputum test conducted by the lab technicians.
The mortality rate of TB patients in India � one death case in every minute earlier � has been reduced with the setting up of DOTS centres.
According to record, two TB patients die in every three minutes now.
Twenty percent of the TB treatment in all the districts of the state has been administered by concerned NGOs.
So far, fifty one designated microscopy centres, 13 TB Units, and 600 DOTS centres have been set up in the state.