Mumbai: Hope for multi-drug resistant TB patients

Mumbai: Hope for multi-drug resistant TB patients

FPJ BureauUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 03:05 PM IST
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Such patients will be getting treated with Bedaquiline drug and their samples have been sent for testing to ensure that they are physically fit to be administered with the drug

Mumbai :Nearly 50 Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients from the city will be initiated with Bedaquiline drug by the end of June. The civic body has started identifying patients who are eligible for getting treated with Bedaquiline drug and their samples have been sent for testing to ensure that they are physically fit to be administered with the drug. The test-results of the samples will be out by middle of June following which they will be posted with the bedaquiline drug.

The drug for the TB treatment has been made available by the government under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) and is a co-cordinatedprogramme between the government and Johnson and Johnson multinational company. Patients, who are already identified with MDR-TB, are of age group 18 and above and women who are not pregnant will be eligible for undergoing the tests for getting administered with bedaquiline drug.

Dr Daksha Shah, who heads the TB cell at Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, “The samples of the MDR-TB patients will be tested for drug-sensitivity, other co-morbid factors and blood tests will be carried out to rule out all the other factors which can pose a threat to them after getting administered with the drug. After the test-results, the patients who have tested positive for the administration of drug will be counseled wherein they will be made aware about the protocols given by RNTCP.”

After the patients give their consent and agree with all the protocols and guidelines, the patients will be admitted to Sewri or KEM hospital for a month wherein during their stay, they will be administered with the bedaquiline drug and other MDR-TB drugs.

Following this, the patients will be monitored wherein their heart rate will be regularly checked through Electrocardiogram (ECG). “After the patient is administered with the drug, they cannot move out of Mumbai as they have to regularly undergo tests, women can’t conceive and all the patients have to consume nutritious food in order to maintain their immunity system.

Also, we will be monitoring the effect of the drug on the patients and the response of the patient to the drug to check if it is working for the betterment of the MDR-TB patient,” added Dr Shah.

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