TB-free: 5 districts to go for sub-national certification

Srinagar, Dec 12: To make the valley TB-free, the Health Department Kashmir is planning to conduct sub-national certification of five districts to make them TB-free as per the given guidelines of Union Health Ministry.
Dr Adfar Qadri, the State TB Officer, announced that five districts will undergo Sub-National Certification as part of the National TB Elimination Program (NTEP).
She said that the five districts, namely Srinagar, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Baramulla, and Bandipora, will submit Sub-National Certification (SNC) claims in January this year.
“The process for the same has been started. This would certify how much the TB incidence has decreased and help in planning further measures,” the TB Officer said.
So far five districts in the valley including Budgam, Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian, and Pulwama have been declared Tb-free and have improved facilities for patients.
Interestingly, the valley has witnessed a decline in tuberculosis cases over the past three years and the testing and screening has been increased.
According to data provided by the Health Department Kashmir, there were 3,439 cases in 2021, 3,396 cases in 2022, and 2,767 cases have been reported this year to date.
Dr Adfar said over the years the screening and testing for TB has been increased along with the active case finding and intensified case finding.
She said that new initiative of differentiated TB Care has been incorporated which will facilitate greater care for high-risk patients to reduce morbidity and mortality.
“Now we are going for AI solutions in TB shortly. Training have been conducted for the same. The TB incidence is declining in Kashmir. We will achieve TB elimination by 2025. We are doing intensified and active case finding and case screening,” Dr Adfar said.
The highly infectious disease continues to remain one of the major health concerns in the valley. However, over the years cases have declined.
Adfar said the directorate has started treatment of Latent TB Infection and they are working to identify contacts of infected patients. “We are providing preventive treatment to contacts that can further limit the spread of disease,” she said.
She said they had taken several measures over the years to develop infrastructure and employ manpower for the early detection and effective treatment of the disease.
Introduced by the Union Health Ministry in 2021, Sub-National Certification rewards high-performing States/districts upon achieving specific TB elimination milestones.
The Health Ministry has set a target of reducing the incidence of new TB cases by 80% to end TB by 2025 while efforts towards TB elimination vary across States/Districts.
In India, the Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) provides free TB treatment at all govt. medical facilities through the Directly Observed Treatment Short course Strategy (DOTS) system, recommended by the World Health Organisation.
Under this system, a patient is given an identification card that tracks their site of infection, severity and treatment course and adds them to a national database.