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Official says 6m Delhiites vulnerable to tuberculosis
Nearly six million of Delhi's population are vulnerable to tuberculosis, a health ministry official said.
- IANS
- Published: 00:03 September 8, 2008
New Delhi: Nearly six million of Delhi's population are vulnerable to tuberculosis, a health ministry official said.
"At least 40 per cent of the [15 million ] population is vulnerable to TB," L.S. Chauhan, deputy director general (TB), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said.
"This does not mean that Delhi is home to six million TB patients at this point of time. But, yes, they are vulnerable. Unless they take precautions, many of them can fall victim to the disease," Chauhan said.
Last year, nearly 50,000 new cases were put under TB treatment of which 13,695 were sputum infectious cases.
V.K. Arora, vice chairman of the TB Association of India (TBI) said: "The majority of the TB victims in Delhi or any other part of the country are migrant labourers, slum-dwellers, residents of crowded localities, and pockets of urban slums.
"Poor living conditions and malnutrition are other reasons for the spread of the disease," Arora added.
To deliberate on the threat of TB and other chest diseases, Delhi is hosting an international conference beginning today. Nearly 500 experts from south Asian countries and some from France are participating in the three-day conference. Chauhan, however, said the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme is doing a good job in curbing the spread in the city.
Since 1997, Chauhan said, 354,116 patients have been put on DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment - Short Course) regime.
According to ministry statistics, in Delhi, the DOTS programme has so far saved over 62,000 lives. The death rate has been consistently below 2.5 per cent.
While the general risk of infection is 1.9 per cent, in urban slums it is 2.2 per cent.
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