Screening drive for TB patients who got Covid

Ranchi: The state health department has started a pilot programme to screen tuberculosis (TB) patients, who had contracted Covid-19, and provide them with specialised care in Ranchi and Jamshedpur district hospitals.

The department will replicate the project across the state soon, sources said.

Speaking during a state media roundtable on the ‘Role of Media towards TB Elimination by 2025’, officials of the TB cell said the specialised care has been started keeping in view the damage to lung found among TB patients who had contracted Covid-19.

Talking to TOI, state TB officer Ranjit Prasad said both Covid-19 and TB are viral infections and compromise the efficiency of lungs. “We have come across TB patients who have developed complications in lungs even after they recovered from Covid-19. So, we have been running special screening to identify such patients and provide them with differentiated TB care,” he added.

Elaborating on differentiated TB care, Dr Prasad said, “Whenever a TB patient approaches a hospital or a healthcare facility for checkup, we note his/ her Covid-19 history. If the patient has developed chest congestion, breathing difficulty or if his/her radiological reports suggest damage to the lungs, we immediately hospitalise him/ her.”

Dr Prasad said 24,000 active TB patients have been detected since January. “We were able to identify and provide assistance to around 43,000 patients in 2021 after the second wave receded in April 2021.”

Over 250-300 TB patients are screened at Ranchi and Jamshedpur district hospitals every month.