Doctors flout government order, less than 1 per cent of TB cases in TN reported

Though the Centre had in 2012 launched a tuberculosis notification website called NIKSHAY to ensure that all cases of TB across the country are notified, many doctors, especially those in the private sector, fail to do so. 

Pharmacies are, therefore, being urged by the agencies to notify the government when they sell TB medication failing which their licences can be seized. Stating that chemists find it difficult to record all cases, Dr Murugan Natarajan, a pulmonologist, said, “Six out of 10 private pharmacies do not sell TB medicines anymore due to this, resulting in a shortage of medication in the private sector.”

The process of registering a case is time consuming. “Drug inspectors catch hold of all medical shops and make it mandatory for us to register the case and revoke licences if we fail to comply. The process includes finding the details of the patient, including his/her address and family history, etc. We have, therefore, realised that it would be better to refrain from selling the medicines,” said Sreekumar M, a city-based chemist.

The Centre had made it mandatory for all clinical establishments — doctors, laboratories, pharmacists, chemists and druggists — to notify the government, failing which they can be booked under Sections 269 and 270 of the IPC, inviting a jail term of around two years or a fine or both. “In case it is identified that a doctor or a hospital has not notified the government, the Centre should be informed and action will be taken accordingly,” said a senior health official.

Despite seeing a rise in the number of cases notified compared to a couple of years ago, the rate in the private sector stands at only 39 per lakh population this year, while that of government hospitals/PHCs was 111 per lakh population.

Stating that the notification rate has improved this year, Dr K Senthil Raj, Project Director, Tamil Nadu State Aids Control Society, said efforts are being made to bring private sector physicians under their ambit. “We have a WhatsApp group for each district where the district TB officer updates data. While we are trying to stress the importance of notifying the government, we are not punishing anyone as yet since we need to initially work with experts in the private sector,” he added. 

Dr S Kumar, Nodal Officer, MDR TB, said, “Though it was announced as a punishable offence, the Centre has not started taking action as it was still sensitising doctors and laboratories on the need to notify the cases. We are nowhere close to the elimination of TB. It might take the State at least 10 years before we may think of achieving it.”