Mumbai: Health minister says city will soon have special labs to help fight TB

The city has 20 per cent of the state's total number of registered TB patients. REPRESENTATION PIC/THINKSTOCK

Mumbai's fight against tuberculosis (TB) is all set to get stronger. The city, which has 20 per cent of the state's total number of registered TB patients, will now have five special laboratories, being set up in association with the Union government, to investigate the fatal ailment along with a state-of-the-art TB research facility at the JJ hospital.

Responding to BJP MLA Parag Alavani, public health minister Dr Deepak Sawant told the legislative assembly that three of the five testing labs - at JJ and Hinduja hospital - were already working. Three others at GT Hospital, Metropolis Healthcare and SRL too will get to work in six months, said the minister. Sawant said these labs were for patients who do not respond to regular treatment and need advanced testing.

According to the minister, Mumbai has 24 independent TB treatment centres with 59 teams at their disposal, and 517 others working in the rest of the state. Apart from this, the city has 130 of the state's 1,520 microscopic investigation centres, for quick testing of the sputum of suspected patients.

He said that in Mumbai, the disease was more prevalent in the eastern and western suburbs, adding that polluted suburbs will be given more teams of doctors and paramedics. The Centre has set a deadline of 2025 to eradicate TB from the country, said Sawant, adding that a four-point programme was being implemented, one of the initiatives of which is a door-to-door survey.

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