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New Delhi, March 24 : Goa, Bihar, Pondicherry and Meghalaya are doing worse in controlling tuberculosis in India, a new report card said Monday on the occasion of the World TB Day. The India TB Control Report Card by two voluntary organisations - Global Health Advocates and the Centre for Sustainable Health Development (CSHD) - said that nearly 25 percent of first time TB cases had not been cured in Goa. |
"In Bihar over 20 percent of first time cases are not getting cured and (this figure is) around 23 percent in Pondicherry and 18 percent in Meghalaya," said Bobby John, an expert with CSHD.
Other states that are faring poorly include Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Orissa, Karnataka, Haryana, Kerala and Punjab.
The report also said that the total cure level among those coming for re-treatment was equally bad. Over 40 percent of such patients in Goa, Pondicherry and Meghalaya were not getting cured after treatment.
Other states are not faring well in providing cure to those availing re-treatment include Gujarat, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Assam and Maharashtra.
"Failure to provide cure to these patients availing re-treatment (is) mostly happening in leading HIV/AIDS prevalent states," John said.
India is home to over 3.4 million tuberculosis patients - about a fifth of the global figure, making it the country with the most TB prevalence. Over 325,000 people die of the disease every year in India.