Pandemic effect: TB testing down by 11% in Karnataka

The testing for tuberculosis has taken a beating in 2020 owing to Covid-19 pandemic in the state. While 2,00,292 were tested for TB in 2019, the number plummeted to 1,78,423 in 2020.

With the onset of Covid pandemic, The machines used for TB testing (CBNAAT and TrueNAT) were deployed for Covid testing. India cannot be TB free by 2025 (goal announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi) if patients are not tested, diagnosed and treated at an early stage.

Due to the 11 per cent dip in testing, the number of cases detected also dropped by 29 per cent in 2020 compared with 2019. While in 2019, as many as 91,994 TB cases were detected, this number came down to 65,549 last year.

Dr Ramesh Reddy, Joint Director, TB, from the Health department, told DH, "We are currently utilising one lakh TrueNAT testing chips since we're yet to receive CBNAAT test cartridges from the Centre. It hasn't been supplied anywhere in India. We wrote to them on March 18."

Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) in Bengaluru is the largest government tertiary hospital in the state for pulmonary diseases and nodal centre for treatment of drug-resistant TB. The hospital reduced its allotted beds for TB from 120 in 2019 to 85 in 2020.

The hospital alone had 1,861 admissions and 256 deaths in 2019. In 2020, it saw 1,254 admissions and 117 deaths.

Dr C Nagaraj, Director, RGICD, told DH, "What the state means in its letter to the Centre is that TrueNAT results are unreliable, which is why they have requested for CBNAAT cartridges. TB testing rates have come down, so have the cases. CBNAAT machines that were used for TB testing were used for Covid testing. Since both Covid and TB symptoms are same, the focus was more on Covid than TB. Compared to 2019, admissions came down in 2020 at our hospital by 607 cases."

As per the revised guidelines of the government, only severe TB patients need to be admitted. Now RGICD has 40 per cent vacant beds. There was only one death of a patient with TB and Covid.