Aimed at addressing the issue of missed TB cases in Sindh, a high-level meeting was held at the office of DG Health. Currently Pakistan is facing the challenge of missing over 200,000 TB cases which either not detected or treated by the private practitioners and not notified to District Health Authorities and became the major hurdle in eliminating TB disease from the country, meeting briefed.

Sindh govt has passed an Act in 2014 for mandatory notification of TB cases by private sector healthcare providers. It has been planned to enforce the Act initially in three districts Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Matiari. National TB Control Program (NTP) has established a Helpline to facilitate private healthcare providers, private medical practitioners, pharmacies and laboratories for e-registration of TB cases under the approved Act. Private practitioners can easily notify TB cases through online reporting system of NTP. Meeting decided that in first phase, pilot implementation of Act will be started in district Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Matari with consultation of District Health Officers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019