Drug-resistant TB detection within 2 hours

Diagnose and start treatment within a day. This is the new mantra of the Union health ministry to rein in drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) cases in the country. For the task, the ministry has procured 500 GeneXpert machines that will provide results of drug-resistant TB within two hours against the conventional diagnostic tools which take up to two months.
Of the 500 machines, Maharashtra has been allocated 27.Once these machines are provided, the state will have testing facility for the drug-resistant TB at every district. Currently, the state has only 22 such machines.
"The aim here is to bring down the time between a positive test result and treatment. The current goal for treatment initiation is within 24 hours of diagnosis. For this, we have procured 500 GeneXpert machines in addition to 121 existing ones. These high-end machines will be allocated to states as per their requirements within next few days. Maharashtra has been allocated 27 machines," said Sunil Khaparde, deputy director general (TB Control), Union ministry of health and family welfare.
Currently, TB patients in Maharashtra undergo the drug susceptibility test when even after two months of treatment their sputum tests positive for the disease, indicating resistance to prescribed drugs. The test is also carried out on patients reporting relapse of TB and the HIV-infected testing positive for the disease as they are considered highly vulnerable for drug-resistant TB.
Sanjeev Kamble, state tuberculosis officer, said, "Allocation of 27 machines will help in picking up cases of drug resistance in newly diagnosed TB patients at the earliest. This will, in turn, help in effective treatment soon after the diagnosis."
Of the 27 GeneXpert machines, Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been allocated eight. One machine each is given to Vasai Virar, Kalyan Dombivali, Navi Mumbai and Thane municipal corporations. Besides, state healthcare facilities in Buldhana, Parbhani, Beed, Latur, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Kolhapur, Solapur, Raigad, Sindhudurg, Nagpur and Nashik have been allocated a machine each.
This will double the detection of drug-resistant TB against the prevailing rate. "Currently , we detect 4,000 cases of drug-resistant TB every year in Maharashtra. With the new machines, we would be able to detect up to 8,000 cases per year," said a senior state health official.