Gurgaon: The city is all set to get a dedicated tuberculosis (TB) centre at
Civil hospital in
Sector 10, the first such government facility in Gurgaon. The centre, expected to be ready by Tuesday, will have a TB
out-patient department, testing unit, lab and a
medicine hub.
Earlier, this centre was proposed in Sector 48, but it was later decided to create a centre in Civil hospital which will benefit patients as they can get other facilities under one roof. “It is usually advisable to conduct diabetes,
HIV and other tests for
TB patients. As this facility is being developed inside the premises of Civil hospital, people will be able to avail other medical services as well,” said
Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon.
This is important at present as TB patients have low immunity and are vulnerable to the novel coronavirus. “TB patients are more prone to respiratory diseases and thus they are likely to get infected by
Covid-19 easily. They have low immunity and if they get infected, the virus can be fatal for them,” Yadav added.
At present, Gurgaon has CBNAAT machines at three government hospitals for the diagnosis of TB — Civil hospital, SGT Medical College in Budhera, and Sohna Civil hospital.Under the Haryana government’s ‘Nikshay Poshan Yojna’, TB patients are given Rs 500 every month till they complete treatment. Haryana aims to eliminate TB by 2025. Till October this year, 4,701 people were diagnosed with TB in Gurgaon.
Meanwhile, the health department is also conducting house-to-house surveys to identify presumptive TB cases. Around six lakh people will be screened by 260 teams for symptoms of TB, which include
cough for more than two weeks, haemoptysis,
fever in the evening, weight loss and loss of appetite.
Officials said the screening is being carried out to ensure that TB patients staying at home in fear of getting infected by Covid get timely treatment.