Finally,DOTS-plus makes UP debut

After a delay of around two years,the DOTS-plus programme has finally seen the light of the day in the state.

The first treatment centre under the National Tuberculosis Control Programme,which will cater to the Multiple Drug Resistant (MDR) TB patients,was set up in Agra in March and second centre will soon come up in Lucknow.

DOTS-Plus,a Centrally sponsored TB control programme,was launched for the first time in the country in 2007 on a pilot basis. UP,however,proposed its action plan for the programme in 2009,and got the approval from the Center for its implementation in the same financial year. But the programme could not be launched in the state for two years because of several infrastructural problems.

On March 24,a 10-bed DOTS-plus ward was inaugurated in the SN Medical college,Agra. Soon,in CSMMU,a 20-bed TB ward is expected to be established in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine.

The microbiology lab of Lucknows CSM Medical University,which was proposed to be the Intermediate Reference Laboratory (IRL) for detecting MDR bacteria in the patients sputum,was given accreditation by the Central TB Division a few days ago.

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