The day is not far when the diagnosis of TB, both simple and drug-resistant will be buttoned up, all in a day’s span. ‘Diagnose and start treatment within a day’-this is the new mantra the Union Ministry of Health has come up with in order to put a check on the cases of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB) in the country. For the task, the ministry has procured 500 high-tech, fully automated machines that will yield the results of Drug Resistant TB within 2 hours against the traditional diagnostic tools which take up to 2 months for the same. Of the 500 machines, Maharashtra has been allotted 27.
Currently, the state has only 22 such machines. Once these machines are set up, the state will have the testing facility for DR-TB in every district. The Deputy Director General (TB Control), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said,” Our aim is to cut down the time between a positive test…
