Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Total DOTS Plus cover for State

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A multi-layered treatment programme, DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Strategy) Plus, to tackle those having the Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) will be rolled out across the 14 districts of the State from next month.

DOTS Plus is being launched to take care of MDR-TB patients, in whom various and prolonged medications were found ineffective. The programme was launched first in the corporation limits in Ahmedabad and fours districts in and around Nagpur in Maharashtra in August last year.

Kerala will be the first State to be fully covered by DOTS Plus. Since 2000, the State is following the DOTS strategy under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) for tackling tuberculosis. Studies have shown that the prevalence of drug-resistant TB at around three per cent of the total new TB cases.

“The drugs have arrived and the staff have been imparted training. The only hitch is the delay in getting accreditation to Intermediate Reference Laboratory (IRL) from Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) in Chennai,” a Health official told The Hindu.

According to the official, a patient is labelled as having MDR TB if the bacteria in sputum sample are found to be resistant to two main first-line TB drugs, INH and rifampicin. A patient with MDR TB will have to undergo a daily drug regimen, including six second-line drugs apart from some injections, for a minimum of two years under the DOTS Plus strategy. The treatment period was six to eight months in the case of DOTS. Steps have been taken to set up DOTS Plus ward at the Institute of Chest Diseases at Pulayanorkotta and Department of Respiratory Medicine in Kozhikode Medical College. “The works in the capital will be completed in two to three weeks,” he said. 0Each DOTS Plus ward will accommodate eight male and five females for treatment at a time.

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has provided the service of a Medical Officer and that of a TB coordinator for coordinating the DOTS Plus programme at the two sites. The NRHM has also provided Rs.5 lakh for setting up the isolated ward in Thiruvananthapuram and Rs.15 lakh in Kozhikode.

The medicines for DOTS Plus are toxic and patients will have to undergo tests on liver function, renal function and thyroid function. These tests will be done free of cost at the government laboratories.

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