Cases of tuberculosis have been increasing in the city, and the Union Government is trying to provide solutions and affordable cure to people by working towards improving facilities. The city will now have five specialized laboratories to probe the fatal and contagious ailment and also a state-of-the-art research facility at JJ Hospital.
While three testing labs at JJ Hospital and Hinduja Hospital were already working, the other three at T Hospital, Metropolis Healthcare and SRL too will get to work in six months. According to the public health minister Dr Deepak Sawant, these labs were for patients who do not respond to regular treatment and need advanced testing.
Mumbai, the city which accounts for 20 percent of the state's total number of registered TB patients, has 24 independent TB treatment centres with 59 teams at their disposal, and 517 others working in the rest of the state.
Apart from this, the city has 130 of the state's 1,520 microscopic investigation centres, for quick testing of the sputum of suspected patients.
Mumbai has most cases in the western and eastern suburbs as a result of heavily polluted air in these regions. More teams of paramedics and doctors will be dedicated to the suburbs, as told by the minister.
The deadline of 2015 is assumed by the Centre to eradicate TB from the country. As a part of the four-point-programme being undertaken to drive the disease out of India, one of the initiatives is a door-to-door survey.
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