Hyderabad: With more than 10 per cent of TB cases relapsing after the first six months of treatment, researchers from the Deccan College of Medical Sciences, in a paper published recently in the Journal of Allied Medical Sciences, concluded that the government's TB programme does not give desired results.
Professor Ashfaq Hasan, head of the department of pulmonology at the college, said, “Despite a seemingly efficient 'Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS)' programme that helps to monitor drug administration to patients, the incidence of relapse in the first six months has been over 10 per cent. This is higher than other countries and is very disturbing."
The recent World Health Organisation statistics suggested that only 56 per cent of the cases in 2014 and 59 per cent in 2015 were officially reported in India. The estimated number of cases in 2015 were 217 per 1,00,000 as against the previous estimate of 127 per 1,00,000.
