Government of India TB INDIA 2014 Revised National TB Control Programme ANNUAL STATUS REPORT Reach the Unreached FIND, TREAT, CURE TB, SAVE LIVES Central TB Division Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi–110108 www.tbcindia.nic.in A L E T H H L M A I S N S O I I O T A N N jk"Vªh; LokLF; fe'ku
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lobal Fund to Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and M
alariaH
IsoniazidH
BCs H
igh Burden CountriesH
IV H
uman Im
muno D
eficiency VirusH
RDH
uman Resource D
evelopment
IACIEC Advisory Com
mittee
ICB International Com
petitive BiddingICELT
International Centre for Excellence in Laboratory TrainingICM
RIndian Council of M
edical ResearchICTC
Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre ID
SP Integrated D
isease Surveillance ProjectIEC
Information, Education and Com
munication
IMA
Indian Medical Association
IPTIsoniazid Preventive Therapy
IRLInterm
ediate Reference LaboratoryIUALTD
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung D
iseaseJM
MJoint M
onitoring Mission
KAPKnow
ledge, Attitude and PracticesLT
Laboratory TechnicianM
DG
sM
illennium D
evelopment G
oalsM
DRTB
Multi D
rug Resistant TBM
IS M
anagement Inform
ation SystemM
O M
edical OfficerM
oHFW
M
inistry of Health and Fam
ily Welfare
MOTC
Medical Officer-Tuberculosis Control
MoU
Mem
orandum of Understanding
NACO
National AID
S Control OrganisationN
ACPN
ational AIDS Control Program
me
NCD
CN
ational Centre for Disease Control
NEP
New
Extra Pulmonary
NG
O N
on Governm
ental OrganisationN
IRT N
ational Institute of Research in TuberculosisN
JIMOD
National Jalm
a Institute of Mycobacterial and Other D
iseasesN
RHM
National Rural H
ealth Mission
NRL
National Reference Laboratory
NSN
New
Smear N
egativeN
SP N
ew Sm
ear PositiveN
TFN
ational Task ForceN
TIN
ational Tuberculosis InstituteN
TPN
ational Tuberculosis Programm
eN
UHM
National Urban H
ealth Mission
OROperational Research
OSEOn-Site Evaluation
PHC
Primary H
ealth CentrePH
I Peripheral H
ealth InstitutionPLH
IVPeople Living w
ith HIV and AID
SPP
Private PractitionerPPM
Public-Private Mix
PSUPublic Sector Undertaking
PTBPulm
onary TuberculosisPW
B Patient-W
ise BoxQA
Quality AssuranceR
Rifampicin
RBRCRandom
Blinded Re-CheckingRCH
Reproductive and Child Health
RNTCP
Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program
me
S Streptom
ycinSD
SState D
rug StoreSH
Gs
Self Help G
roups
Ab
br
ev
iAt
ion
s
TB Annual Report
SOPStandard Operating Procedure
SPRSlide Positivity Rate
STCState TB Cell
STDC
State Tuberculosis Training & D
emonstration Centre
STFState Task Force
STLSSenior TB Laboratory Supervisor
STOState TB Officer
STS Senior Treatm
ent SupervisorTB
TuberculosisTU
Tuberculosis UnitUH
CUrban H
ealth CentreUN
OPSUnited N
ations Office for Project ServicesUSAID
United States Agency for International D
evelopment
WH
OW
orld Health Organization
WVI
World Vision India
XDR-TB
Extensively Drug Resistant TB
ZPyrazinam
ideZTF
Zonal Task Force
Ab
br
ev
iAt
ion
s
TB Annual Report
Central TB Division is publishing Annual Status Report of Revised
National TB Control Program
me since year 2001. On W
orld TB D
ay, the 24th March of 2014; this 14th report is being published.
Important indicators of program
me perform
ance are continued in this report w
ith trends (tabular and graphical) over years in the chapter on RN
TCP performance. H
owever, there are certain changes
in this report as compared to previous reports. N
ew indicators on
TB notification by private sectors have been included e.g. number of
private health facilities (laboratories, clinics, hospitals etc) registered w
ith RNTCP as w
ell as number of TB patients notified by these private
health facilities. This inclusion of notification from private sector is
also in sync with the W
orld TB Day them
e on missing three m
illion, one m
illion of which are estim
ated to be in India. Though notification rate per 1,00,000 population at national level is m
uch less as compared
to RNTCP patient notification, there has been considerable increase
in private sector notification in 2013 as compared to 2012. As the
case based surveillance system is established across all districts in
the country, more can be know
n about the practices in private sector and appropriate steps can be taken by the program
me to prom
ote diagnostic and treatm
ent practices as per ‘Standards for TB Care in India’.
As per WH
O estimations, Tuberculosis prevalence per lakh population
has reduced from 465 in year 1990 to 230 in 2012. In absolute
numbers, prevalence has reduced from
40 lakhs to 28 lakhs annually.Incidence per lakh population has reduced from
216 in year 1990 to 176 in 2012.Tuberculosis m
ortality per lakh population has reduced from
38 in year 1990 to 22 in 2012. In absolute numbers, m
orality due to TB has reduced from
3.3 lakhs to 2.7 lakhs annually.
ex
ec
ut
ive
s
um
mA
ry
In 2013, TB suspects examination rate has further increased to 651 per 100,000 population. A
total of 928190 smear positive TB patients w
ere diagnosed and 14,10,880 patients were registered
for treatment under RN
TCP. Total case notification rate per 1,00,000 population was 113 w
hich is decreasing since last 5 years. Incident TB case notification rate is also declining since last 5-6 years and in 2013 it w
as 91 per 1,00,000 population. Overall success rate of new and retreatm
ent TB cases is 88%
and 70% respectively.
TB-HIV coordination is increm
entally improving w
ith 60% of the patients w
ith known H
IV status, and 90%
of the HIV positive TB patients receiving Cotrim
oxazole Preventive Therapy (CPT), and 84%
receiving Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). How
ever,outcomes of H
IV positive TB patients continue to be poorer w
ith less than 80% success rate am
ongst the new patients. Program
me is considering to
pilot daily anti-TB regimen to im
prove these outcomes.
Among new
TB cases 5% of patients w
ere in pediatric age-group (0-14 yrs).
After complete geographical coverage of the country for PM
DT services, number of M
DR TB suspects
who w
ere offered DST increased in 2013 w
ith diagnosis of 23289 MD
R TB cases, of which 20763
were put on treatm
ent. With early diagnosis of M
DR TB, the outcom
es of treatment are expected to
improve, how
ever mortality and default are still around 20%
each.
Contribution of partners like IMA, The Union, W
orld Vision, FIND
, PATH, CBCI-CARD
, IHBP and others
have been described in details in the chapter of partnerships. Cases studies are also shared with
intention of cross learning and motivating those w
ho work for TB control in India. Various effective
strategies are illustrated in the chapter relevant on advocacy, comm
unication and social mobilization
though these are only examples and m
any success stories remain unheard across the country.
Chapter on financial planning and managem
ent describes important decisions including the details
of 12th Five Year Plan budget of Rs.4500/- crores and its components. Also financial outlay of year
2013-14 is detailed State/UT wise.
In this report many repetitions from
previous annual reports have been avoided as these are already available on http://w
ww.tbcindia.nic.in w
ebsite and other programm
e documents and training
modules.
Executive summ
ary
TB Annual Report
co
nt
en
ts
Foreword, m
essages, preface
Abbreviations
Executive summ
ary
1. Central TB D
ivision: Activities in 2013
2. TB disease burden in India
3. RNTCP im
plementation status
3.1 Case detection and treatment
3.2 Programatic M
anagement of D
rug Resistant TB
3.3 TB-HIV
3.4 Childhood TB
3.5 Partnerships
3.6 Case studies
3.7 ACSM
3.8 Financial planning &
managem
ent
4. TB Surveillance in India
4.1 Nikshay
4.2 TB Notification
5. RN
TCP Performance (N
otification and treatment
outcome trends)
6. State w
ise and district wise perform
ance indicators (2013)
1711111720242735384045454851
65
TB Annual Report1
Ja
nu
ary
1. The first m
eeting of the National Expert Com
mittee on D
iagnosis and Treatm
ent of Tuberculosis under RNTCP w
as held at Nirm
an Bhaw
an, New
Delhi on 3rd and 4th January 2013. Key policy
decisions were taken during the deliberations by the experts in light
of the recent scientific evidences pertaining to diagnosis, follow-
up, use of newer rapid diagnostics under RN
TCP, identification of tw
o additional National Reference Laboratories, revision of TB
case definitions, scale-up for universal access of PMDT services
in India and adoption of recently developed Standards of TB Care in India in a national consultation m
ode under RNTCP.
2. RN
TCP Bi-annual
National
Review
meeting
of STOs
and Consultants w
as held from 9-11 January 2013 at N
ew D
elhi. All STOs w
ere updated with changes in strategies and objectives
under 12th Five Year Plan. Brainstorming group w
orks were
conducted to devise implem
entable micro-plans.
3. The Regional PM
DT Review M
eeting was conducted for States
of the East and NE zones at Kolkata from
24–25 January 2013 to intensively review
the status of scale-up and quality of im
plementation of PM
DT services in the States of the zone and also to address critical bottlenecks through support from
CTD,
States and programm
e partners.
4. The N
ational Task Force for involvement of M
edical Colleges was
organized from 31st Jan. to 1st Feb. 2013 at Jaipur, Rajasthan.
The workshop aim
ed to review the progress since the last
National Task Force m
eeting in 2011 and develop the action plan for active involvem
ent of medical colleges.
Ch
ap
te
r 1
: C
en
tr
al
tB
D
ivis
ion
: aC
tiv
itie
s
un
De
rt
ak
en
in
20
13
2
5. The N
ational Research Comm
ittee meeting w
as held on 28th January 2013. The experts reviewed and
discussed the new and revised research proposals and an im
petus to research agenda was finalized.
Fe
bru
ary
6. The Regional PM
DT Review M
eeting was conducted for States of south zone at Trivandrum
from 14–15
February and west zone at Aurangabad from
21–22 February to intensively review the status of scale-up
and quality of implem
entation of PMDT services in the States of the zones and to also address critical
bottlenecks through support from CTD
, States and programm
e partners.
7. A special w
orkshop was held at M
umbai on 24–25 February to strengthen the urban TB control system
s with
special focus on clinically and socially vulnerable slum population and develop a com
prehensive plan for universal access to quality TB care in M
umbai w
ith support and active participation of CTD, N
TI Bangalore, W
HO India, M
aharashtra State TB Cell, eminent private and public sector providers, im
plementation partners
and donors.
8. Training of m
aster trainers for the comm
unity pharmacist’s partnership w
ith RNTCP held on 18 February
under the chairmanship of D
r. Jagdish Prasad, Director G
eneral of Health Services, G
overnment of India.
Ma
rch
9. The Central Internal Evaluation of H
aryana was held from
4th to 8th March to evaluate the program
me
performance and im
plementation in the State. Tw
o Districts in the State, Karnal and H
isar were evaluated
along with the State level institutions.
10. The Regional PMDT Review
Meeting w
as conducted for States of North zone at Lucknow
from 28th February
to 1st March to intensively review
the status of scale-up and quality of implem
entation of PMDT services
in the States of the zone and also to address critical bottlenecks through support from CTD
, State and program
me partners.
11. Nationw
ide coverage of programm
atic managem
ent of Drug Resistant (D
R) TB services under RNTCP w
as achieved on 15th M
arch 2013.
ap
ril12. M
eeting of DR TB Survey w
as held on 5th April by the National Oversight G
roup to review changes required
in DRS Protocol as w
ell as logistics and implem
entation issues.
13. National PM
DT Trainings scheduled and held at Calicut in Kerala, Ahmedabad in G
ujarat and LRS in New
D
elhi.
14. The record of proceedings (ROP) of 34 States has been approved in National Program
me Coordination
comm
ittee meetings.
15. The TB Laboratory Managem
ent Training held at Mum
bai from 8th to 12th April.
16. An experience sharing workshop to pilot the integration of Tuberculosis Units w
ith the existing administrative
blocks held on the 4th April in New
Delhi.
17. The Central Internal Evaluation of Maharashtra w
as held from 22nd to 27th April to evaluate the program
me
performance and im
plementation in the State along w
ith State-level institutions.
18. The TB-Diabetes Screening project dissem
ination meeting organized by the Union w
as held on 25 April.
Chapter1: Central TB D
ivision: Activities undertaken in 2013
TB Annual Report3
Ma
y19. D
issemination of the D
R TB directory on availability of PMDT services on 16th M
ay 2013.
20. One batch of the RNTCP M
odular Training organized at the National Tuberculosis Institute from
the 6 to 18 M
ay.
21. Renewal of M
OU for two years w
ith the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, SEAR Pharm
a, All India Organization of Chem
ist and Druggist, Pharm
acy Council of India for involvement of com
munity pharm
acists in RN
TCP.
22. Extension of single stream funding TB G
rant of Global Fund w
as approved by the Global Fund Board - the
total value of the project is 226.74 million USD
.
23. The Central Internal Evaluation of Him
achal Pradesh was held from
27 to 31May to evaluate program
me
performance and im
plementation in the State along w
ith State-level Institutions.
Ju
ne
24. The Central Internal Evaluation of Kerala was held from
17 to 21 June to evaluate the programm
e perform
ance and implem
entation in the State along with State-level Institutions.
25. The first draft of audio-visual training aid for basic modular training of RN
TCP shared on 24th June, as part of the H
uman Resource D
evelopment plan under the 12th FYP.
26. Media advocacy w
orkshop for STOs was conducted in M
umbai on 27-28 June 2013.
Ju
ly27. Seven batches of N
ational training 185 Master Trainers in N
ikshay were conducted by Central TB D
ivision, betw
een 1st July to 25th July at NTI, Bangalore.
28. Meeting of the N
ational Technical Working G
roup on TB-HIV Co-ordination w
as held on 15 July.
29. The National PM
DT trainings scheduled and held from 1st to 5th July at Ahm
edabad (Gujarat), and 22nd to
26th July at Calicut (Kerala).
30. The Central Internal Evaluation of Gujarat w
as held from 22nd to 26th July to evaluate the program
me
performance and im
plementation in the State along w
ith State-level institutions. The CIE team visited
Mehsana and Surat M
unicipal Corporation districts.
au
gu
st31. The RN
TCP Modular Training organized at the N
ational Institute for TB & Respiratory D
iseases (erstwhile
LRS Institute) in New
Delhi from
19th to 31st August
32. National Operational Research dissem
ination workshop held in D
elhi.
33. Meeting of the N
ational Technical Working G
roup on TB-HIV Co-ordination w
as held on 14th August.
34. The Central Internal Evaluation of Chattisgarh was held from
26th to 30th August to evaluate the programm
e perform
ance and implem
entation in the State along with State-level Institutions. D
uring the CIE Mahasam
und and Rajnandgaon D
istricts were evaluated.
35. Medical College Zonal Task Force m
eeting conducted in west zone.
36. The Zonal Operational research workshop w
as held in the South-2 Zone (Thiruvananthapuram).
4
se
pte
mb
er
37. The Medical College Zonal Task Force m
eetings in south-2 and north zones.
38. The Zonal Operational research workshop w
as held in the North Zone (Srinagar).
39. The Central Internal Evaluation of Punjab was held from
23rd to 27th September to evaluate the program
me
performance and im
plementation in the State along w
ith State-level institutions. During the CIE, Taran Taran
and Mohali D
istricts were visited by the evaluation team
.
40. National PM
DT Training held from 2nd to 6th Septem
ber at the National Institute for TB &
Respiratory D
iseases, New
Delhi (erstw
hile LRS Institute) and 23rd-27th September at Ahm
edabad.
41. RNTCP M
odular Training organized at the National Tuberculosis Institute, Bangalore from
the 16th to 28th Septem
ber.
42. The Leadership and Managem
ent course conducted with support from
the Global Fund Round 9 TB G
rant under Project Axshya w
as organised from 16th-20th Septem
ber.
43. Two sensitization w
orkshops for the RNTCP TB Xpert Project organized in Septem
ber for North and South
zones.
44. The National Biannual STO-Consultants’ m
eeting held in Kolkata from 16th-18th Septem
ber.
45. Meeting of the N
ational Research Comm
ittee held at the National Institute for TB &
Respiratory Diseases in
New
Delhi (erstw
hile LRS Institute) on 30th September.
46. The grant agreement of G
FTAM-SSF Phase II w
as signed by India CCM and D
epartment of Econom
ic Affairs and G
FATM for period of 30 m
onths starting 1st April 2013. The total value of the grant is 226.74 million
USD.
oc
tob
er
47. Zonal Task Force workshops for involvem
ent of Medical Colleges in RN
TCP organised at Raipur for East Zone.
48. Zonal Task Force workshops for involvem
ent of Medical Colleges in RN
TCP at Dibrugarh for N
orth-East Zone.
49. Meeting w
ith Rotary India on leadership for care providers in quality TB care in India on 4th October.
50. Review of the activities of the Sub Recipient of G
lobal Fund Project – CBCI CARD Project at the N
ational STPC Review
Meeting at G
haziabad.
51. Interactive session to integration of Pharmacovigilance program
me of India (PvPI) and form
al launch of integration of PVPI and RN
TCP for patient safety.
52. The first meeting of the N
ational ACSM Advisory Com
mittee convened in N
ew D
elhi.
no
vem
be
r53. RN
TCP modular training at N
TI Bangalore organized from 11-23 N
ovember.
54. Central Internal Evaluation of Delhi w
as conducted in two districts - Baba Am
bedkar Hospital Chest Clinic
and Shastri Park Chest Clinic between 11-15 N
ovember.
55. RNTCP M
odular Training at NITRD
, New
Delhi (erstw
hile LRS Institute) organised between 18-30 N
ovember.
Chapter1: Central TB D
ivision: Activities undertaken in 2013
TB Annual Report5
56. ACSM and M
edia Engagement w
orkshop for State IEC and ACSM officers organized in N
ew D
elhi from 19th-
20th Novem
ber.
57. Zonal or capacity building workshop, G
uwahati, Assam
organized.
De
ce
mb
er
58. The Central Internal Evaluation of West Bengal conducted from
9th to 13th Decem
ber. During the CIE, tw
o districts (N
adia and East Mednipur) w
ere visited.
59. Quarterly Review M
eeting of Haryana conducted on 20th D
ecember at the State TB Cell in Panchkula. The
performance of districts of H
aryana was review
ed and feedback was given to D
istrict TB Officers about their respective perform
ance and ways to im
prove it.
60. Training of stakeholders on Pharmacovigilance w
as conducted in two zones - South Zone from
9-10 D
ecember and W
est Zone from 12-13 D
ecember.
61. The Departm
ent of Economic Affairs has approved W
orld Bank support to RNTCP for tw
o years for 100 m
illion USD.
6
TB Annual Report7
1. Though India is the second-m
ost populous country in the world
one fourth of the global incident TB cases occur in India annually. In 2012, out of the estim
ated global annual incidence of 8.6 m
illion TB cases, 2.3 million w
ere estimated to have occurred in
India.
WH
O estim
ated burden of tuberculosis in India, 2012
Ch
ap
te
r 2
: t
uB
er
Cu
lo
sis
D
ise
as
e B
ur
De
n in
in
Dia
TB burden
Num
ber (Millions)
(95% CI)
Rate Per 100,000
Persons (95% CI)
Incidence2.2 (2.0–2.4)
176 (159–193)Prevalence
2.8 (1.9–3.9) 230 (155–319)
Mortality
0.27 (0.17–0.39)22 (14–32)
TB burden
Num
ber (Millions)
(95% CI)
Percent (95%
CI)H
IV among estim
ated incident TB patients
0.13 (0.12–0.14)5.6 (5.4-6.2)
MD
R-TB among notified
pulmonary TB patients
0.064 (0.049–0.079)
MD
R-TB among notified
New
pulmonary TB
patients
0.021 (0.018–0.025)2.2%
(1.9–2.6%)
MD
R-TB among notified
Re-treatment pulm
onary TB patients
0.043 (0.033–0.054)15%
(11–19%)
8Chapter 2: Tuberculosis disease burden in India
India’s TB control programm
e is on track as far as reduction in disease burden is concerned. There is 42%
reduction in TB mortality rate by 2012 as com
pared to 1990 level. Similarly there is 51%
reduction in TB prevalence rate by 2012 as com
pared to 1990 level.
These estimations w
ere based on RNTCP data, 7 Prevalence surveys in India conducted betw
een 2007-2010, N
ational ARTI surveys, mortality surveys conducted in 2005.
Tuberculosis prevalence per lakh population has reduced from 465 in year 1990 to 230 in 2012. In absolute
numbers, prevalence has reduced from
40 lakhs to 28 lakhs annually.
TB Annual Report9
Tuberculosis incidence per lakh population has reduced from 216 in year 1990 to 176 in 2012.
Tuberculosis mortality per lakh population has reduced from
38 in year 1990 to 22 in 2012. In absolute num
bers, morality due to TB has reduced from
3.3 lakhs to 2.7 lakhs annually.
10
TB Annual Report11
3.1
Ca
se D
ete
ctio
nThe
RNTCP
laboratory netw
ork for
sputum
smear
microscopy
comprises a three-tier system
of National Reference Laboratories
(NRLs), Interm
ediate Reference Laboratories (IRLs) and Designated
Microscopy Centres (D
MCs) offering appropriate, affordable and
accessible quality
assured diagnostic
services. To
align w
ith internationally recom
mended standards of diagnostic practices for
TB, the programm
e supplies quality equipment and reagents to its
nationwide netw
ork of laboratories. An inbuilt routine system has
been designed for sputum m
icroscopy, External Quality Assessment
(EQA) and for supervision and monitoring of diagnostic system
s by RN
TCP Senior TB Laboratory Supervisors (STLSs) locally and by the Interm
ediate and National Reference Laboratories netw
ork at state and higher levels. The program
me has a certification procedure
for Culture and Drug Susceptibility Testing (C&
DST) for solid and
liquid, and Line Probe Assay (LPA) for molecular diagnosis w
ith quality assurance protocol based on the W
HO and G
lobal Laboratory Initiative recom
mendations.
tre
atm
en
t of t
B p
atie
nts u
nd
er
rn
tC
pIN
H (H
), Rifampicin (R), Pyrazinam
ide (Z), Ethambutol, (E) and
streptomycin (S) is used in the treatm
ent of TB patients; all drugs are given three tim
es weekly. A new
case of TB patient will receive 6
months of treatm
ent with 2 m
onths of IP (HRZE) and 4 m
onths of CP (H
R). Re-treatment TB case w
ill receive 8 months of treatm
ent with 3
months of IP (2 m
onth HRZES and 1 m
onths HRZE) and 5 m
onths of CP (H
RE). Drugs are supplied in an individual patient-w
ise box (PWB),
which contain the entire course of treatm
ent for each patient. The PW
B have a colour code indicating the category [Red for Category I and Blue for Category II]. In each PW
B, there are two pouches one for
Ch
ap
te
r 3
: r
nt
Cp
iM
pl
eM
en
ta
tio
n
st
at
us
12
intensive phase (A) and one for continuation phase (B). All doses of the intensive phase and at least the first dose of each w
eek of the continuation phase are given under direct observation by a DOT provider. Follow
up sputum
smear exam
inations are done at the end of the intensive phase (IP), 2 months into the continuation
phase (CP) and at the end of treatment. If the sm
ear is positive at the end of the intensive phase, the same
drugs are given for 1 more m
onth and then the CP is started. The treatment outcom
e is determined according
to the results of the follow-up sm
ear examinations done during treatm
ent. For paediatric TB patients separate PW
B is developed under the programm
e. Asymptom
atic children under 6 years who are household contacts of
smear positive pulm
onary TB patients, chemoprophylaxis w
ith isoniazid (10 mg/kg body w
eight) is administered
daily for a period of 6 months.
In the year 2013 the RNTCP put 1416014 patients on treatm
ent
Quality assured laboratory services: RN
TCP has established a nationwide laboratory netw
ork of over 13,000 D
MCs, w
hich are supervised by the IRLs at the state level and the NRLs and Central TB D
ivision at the national level. The RN
TCP aims to consolidate its laboratory netw
ork and organize a defined hierarchy for conducting sputum
microscopy w
ith external quality assessment (EQA).
National R
eference Laboratories: The six NRLs under the program
me include N
ational Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (N
IRT), Chennai; National Tuberculosis Institute (N
TI), Bangalore; National Institute of Tuberculosis
& Respiratory D
iseases (NITRD
), Delhi; N
ational Japanese Leprosy Mission for Asia (JALM
A) Institute of Leprosy and other M
ycobacterial Diseases, Agra; Regional M
edical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubanesw
ar; and the Bhopal M
emorial H
ospital and Research Centre (BMH
RC), Bhopal*. The NRLs w
ork closely with the IRLs,
supervise their activities and also undertake periodic training of the staff with respect to EQA and C&
DST.
Three microbiologists and four laboratory technicians have been provided by the RN
TCP on a contractual basis to each N
RL for supervision and monitoring of laboratory activities. The N
RL microbiologist and laboratory
supervisor/technician visit each assigned state at least once a year for 2-3 days as a part of onsite evaluation under the RN
TCP EQA protocol.
NR
LStates and U
nion Territories (UTs)
Assigned for EQA
Total no. of IR
Ls assignedTotal no. of states/ U
Ts assigned
No of O
SE conducted
during the year (2013-14)
NIRT
Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Goa, G
ujarat, D
adra Nagar H
aveli, Dam
an & D
iu, Kerala, Lakshadw
eep, Sikkim, Tam
il Nadu, Punjab,
Puducherry, Andaman &
Nicobar
1013
5
NITRD
Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, H
aryana, Manipur,
Nagaland, M
izoram, M
eghalaya, Tripura, Chandigarh
49
0
NTI
Maharashtra, Orissa, W
est Bengal, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, M
adhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jam
mu and Kashm
ir
129
9
JALMA
Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, H
imachal Pradesh, Assam
54
0
*RMRC, Bhubanesw
ar and BMH
RC, Bhopal have been newly created and states w
ill be redistributed among all the six N
RLs.
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report13
Figure 1: Schematic representation of the EQ
A reporting process
Intermediate R
eference Laboratory (IRL): One IRL has been designated in the STD
C Public Health Laboratory/
Medical College of the respective state. The functions of IRL include supervision and m
onitoring of EQA activities, M
ycobacterial culture and DST as w
ell as Drug Resistance Surveys (D
RS) in selected states. The IRL conducts regular trainings to ensure that the district and sub-district laboratory staff have the technical know
-how to
efficiently perform sm
ear microscopy activities. Additionally, they undertake onsite evaluation and panel testing
of each district in the state at least once a year.
Culture and DST Laboratories (C &
DST): In addition to IRLs, the RN
TCP also involves the Microbiology
Departm
ent of medical colleges for providing diagnostic services for drug resistance tuberculosis, extra-
pulmonary tuberculosis (EP-TB) and research as w
ell as human resources, equipm
ent and training.
Designated M
icroscopy Centre (DM
C): The most peripheral laboratory under the RN
TCP network is the D
MC,
which serves a population of around 100,000 (50,000 in tribal and hilly areas). Currently, all the districts
in the country are implem
enting EQA. For quality improvem
ent purposes, the NRL onsite evaluation (OSE)
recomm
endations to IRLs and districts are discussed in the RNTCP Laboratory N
RL Coordination Comm
ittee m
eetings and National Expert Com
mittee for D
iagnosis and Managem
ent of Tuberculosis. The quality im
provement w
orkshops for state level TB officers and laboratory managers are conducted at N
RLs based on the observations of the N
RL-OSEs. These workshops focus on issues such as hum
an resource requirements,
training, AMC for binocular m
icroscopes, quality specifications for ZN stains, RBRC blinding and coding issues,
bio-medical w
aste disposal, infection control measures etc. The Quality Assurance activities include:
yOnsite Evaluation
yPanel Testing (PT)
yRandom
Blinded Rechecking (RBRC)
14
The National Laboratory Com
mittee and N
ational DOTS Plus Com
mittee have been m
erged into the National
Expert Comm
ittee on Diagnosis and M
anagement of Tuberculosis under RN
TCP and provides technical guidelines for diagnosis and m
anagement of all form
s of tuberculosis.
There are 51 RNTCP certified C&
DST laboratories in the country, w
hich include laboratories from the public
sector (IRLs and medical colleges), private sector and operated by N
GOs.
Solid Culture Certification: The RNTCP has certified 37 laboratories for solid C &
DST and includes:
yFour N
RLs: NTI, Bangalore; N
IRT, Chennai; JALMA , Agra; N
ITRD, N
ew D
elhi;
y18 IRLs: H
yderabad, Raipur, Delhi, Ahm
edabad, Karnal, Ranchi, Thiruvanthapuram, N
agpur, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, Puducherry, Ajm
er, Cuttack, Lucknow, Kolkata, Dehradun and Chennai.
ySix m
edical colleges: PGIM
ER, Chandigarh; AIIMS-D
ept. of Medicine, N
ew D
elhi; J J Hospital, M
umbai; SM
S, Jaipur; M
PSMC, Jam
nagar; and MG
IMS, W
ardha
yThree-N
GO: BPH
RC, Hyderabad; Choithram
Hospital, Indore; and D
FIT Nellore
yFour ICM
R institutes: RMRC-Port Blair; RM
RC, Dibrugarh; RM
RC, Jabalpur and RMRC Bhubanesw
ar
yTw
o private labs: CMC, Vellore and M
icrocare, Surat
The proficiency testing for solid culture for RNTCP certification is in advance stages for IRLs in Assam
, Karnataka, M
anipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Him
achal Pradesh, Srinagar and Jamm
u. The RNTCP also encourages
laboratories from m
edical colleges, ICMR, private sector and N
GOs to apply for certification by providing technical
assistance and training of staff at NRLs.
Liquid Culture Certification: The RNTCP has certified 12 laboratories for liquid culture, w
hich include four NRLs;
Four IRLs (Hyderabad, Ahm
edabad, Nagpur and D
elhi); one medical college (SM
S Jaipur); one NG
O laboratory (P D
Hinduja-M
umbai); and tw
o private laboratories (SRL Mum
bai and Kolkata). The proficiency testing for liquid culture and certification is an ongoing process for IRLs in G
uwahati, Bangalore, Pune, Lucknow, Cuttack, Ajm
er, Kolkata, Karnal, D
elhi, Jamnagar, Chennai, Chandigarh and Indore. The RN
TCP is in the process of establishing 20 Biosafety level-3 laboratories for liquid culture as per its laboratory scale up plan for liquid culture in selected IRL and C &
DST laboratories in m
edical colleges.
Line Probe Assay (LPA): The LPA is a molecular diagnostic test, w
hich can provide the DST results w
ithin one day. The RN
TCP has completed the dem
onstration and evaluation phase in selected laboratories and based upon the evidence, adopted the policy for rapid diagnosis of M
U, Varanasi; DTC, Allahabad; Kanpur; Basti; DTC, Ghaziabad; Bareilly
22G
ujaratDTC, Surat; Rajkot; Vadodara; LG
Hospital, M
aninagar, Ahmedabad
23Sikkim
DTC, South Sikkim24
Tamil N
aduM
adurai Medical College; IRL Chennai; Coim
batore; CMC Vellore
25M
izoramD
R-TB Centre Aizawl,
26W
est BengalM
urshidabad; DTC Kolkata; How
rah City; Amtala
List of CBN
AAT laboratories under RN
TCP
The RNTCP w
ith the support from UN
ITAID, W
orld Health Organization (W
HO) and STOP TB Partnership initiated
the RNTCP TB Xpert Project. The project currently provides services for rapid decentralized diagnosis of M
DR-TB.
Under the project, sites are also implem
enting innovative mechanism
to adopt PPM m
odels to provide diagnosis of TB and D
R-TB from the private sector. The program
me has also developed a guidance docum
ent for the use of CB-N
AAT technology and the list of CBNAAT laboratories across the country are listed below
:
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report17
3.2
pro
gra
mm
atic
Ma
na
ge
me
nt o
f Dru
g r
esista
nt
tB
(pM
Dt
) India is one of the countries in the w
orld with the highest burden of m
ultidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MD
R-TB). As per the W
HO G
lobal Report on Tuberculosis 2013, India accounts for 64,000 MD
RTB cases out of 300,000 cases estim
ated globally to occur among the notified pulm
onary TB cases annually.
rn
tC
p r
esp
on
se to
the
ch
alle
ng
e o
f dru
g re
sistan
t tB
The key focus of RN
TCP combating the challenge of drug resistance is to prevent its em
ergence by providing quality D
OTS diagnostic and treatment services, increasing the visibility and reach of the program
me services
and promoting adherence to International Standards of TB care and Standards of TB Care in India by all
healthcare providers.
Indiscriminate and injudicious use of anti-TB drugs, especially outside the program
me, is a significant contributor
to the emergence of drug resistance TB. The program
me has taken concrete steps to prom
ote rational use of anti-TB drugs; these include the novel initiative of extending universal access to free quality anti-TB drugs across India and the developm
ent of a guidance document, popularly called “The Chennai Consensus Statem
ent”, for healthcare providers on the prevention and m
anagement of drug resistance TB outside the program
me settings.
The programm
e through the aegis of professional medical associations and M
edical Council of India is sensitizing, educating and urging healthcare providers on judicious use of anti-TB drugs. The intervention of drug regulatory authority of the country is being sought to strictly enforce sale of anti-TB drugs against valid prescription through a special directive.
Besides initiating and strengthening measures for prevention of drug resistance, the program
me has
simultaneously initiated diagnostic and treatm
ent services for the managem
ent of MD
R TB. These services are considered “Standard of Care” and are an integral com
ponent of RNTCP to m
anage M/XD
R-TB through the existing program
me.
The PMDT services for quality diagnosis and treatm
ent of drug resistant TB cases were initiated in 2007 in
Gujarat and M
aharashtra. Despite the m
odest progress from 2007 - 2009, the program
me had am
bitious plans to rapidly scale up the PM
DT services in the country. In 2009, it was envisioned that by the end of 2011 the
MD
R TB services will be introduced in all the states across the country in a phased m
anner that was achieved in
time. The plan to extend drug susceptibility testing to all sm
ear positive retreatment cases upon diagnosis, and
all new cases that are sm
ear-positive early during the first-line anti-TB treatment by 2012 also w
as achieved. This is further com
plemented by a nationw
ide laboratory scale up plan developed by the programm
e n to have 43 culture &
DST laboratories (Solid &
LPA techniques including Liquid Culture in 33 labs) in the public health sectors by 2015
Dia
gn
osis o
f dru
g re
sistan
t tB
Currently all re-treatm
ent cases at diagnosis, any smear positive during follow
up, contacts of confirmed D
R TB case and H
IV associated TB cases at diagnosis are included in the definition of presumptive D
RTB cases. For diagnosis of XD
R-TB, DST for second-line drugs is offered to patients on M
DR TB regim
en if culture positive at 6 m
onths or if culture reversion occurs during MD
RTB treatment after culture conversion to negative.
For drug susceptibility testing sputum specim
en is transported to accredited reference laboratory. Rapid m
olecular test like Line Probe Assay (LPA) and CB-NAAT, if available is the preferred D
ST method for first line
drugs. DST for 2nd line drugs is done at 3 N
ational Reference Labs (NIRT-Chennai, N
TI-Bangalore, LRS-Delhi).
DST to second-line drugs w
ill be offered to all confirmed M
DR TB cases at diagnosis as the lab capacity becom
es increasingly available in all 33 labs being developed for liquid culture and D
ST in a phased manner up to 2015.
18 As the laboratory diagnostic capacity got enhanced, districts have moved from
higher risk criteria to lower risk
criteria for early diagnosis of DRTB. By the end of 2013, only 107 districts follow
criteria A, 151 districts are
implem
enting criteria B and the rem
aining 446 districts have moved into criteria C.
XDRTB is suspected if the follow
-up culture of MD
RTB patient on treatment rem
ains positive at 6th month or
later or culture reversion occurs at any time of treatm
ent. In such cases, that culture isolate from the follow
-up culture laboratory w
ill be sent to the linked National Reference Laboratory (N
RL) for Drug Sensitivity Test (D
ST) for second line anti TB drugs.
In 2013, examination of D
RTB suspects recorded 71% and enrolm
ent of MD
RTB patients for treatment recorded
47% increase com
pared to the previous year. A total of 1,81,021 DRTB suspects w
ere tested and 20,763 M
DRTB cases w
ere put on treatment in 2013.
tre
atm
en
t of d
rug
resista
nt t
B
Treatment of D
rug Resistant TB is based on Rifampicin D
ST results. Initial hospitalization at DR-TB Centers
ide, Ethambutol. PAS is used as a substitute drug in case of intolerance. In cases w
ith Ofloxacin or Kanam
ycin resistance detected at baseline wherever facilities to undertake quality assured D
ST to second line drugs is locally available, the regim
en for MD
R TB can be suitably modified to replace Levofloxacin
with M
oxifloxacin and PAS or to replace Kanamycin w
ith Capreomycin respectively. D
rug supply using 1 monthly
patient wise box of different w
eight bands is in place.
Standardized treatment Regim
en for XDR TB under daily D
OT includes (6-12m) Capreom
ycin, PAS, Moxifloxacin,
High dose IN
H, Clofazim
ine, Linezolid, Amoxy-Clavulanic Acid / (18m
) all the above drugs except Capreomycin.
Clarithromycin and Thyacitazone used as a substitute drug in case of intolerance.
Result of M
DR
TB Treatm
ent: The treatment outcom
e report is submitted 31-33 m
onths after patients in the respective cohort are started treatm
ent. Thus the latest annual cohort of MD
RTB patients whose treatm
ent outcom
es were reported in 2013 is from
July 2010 to June 2011. Of the 3530 MD
RTB cases registered during this period, 48%
were successfully treated, 22%
died, 18% defaulted and 6%
failed treatment. Only 14 states
have MD
RTB cases registered during this period. Majority of these patients w
ere heavily treatment experienced
and detected late during the early scale up phase of the respective states. These factors could have contributed to the high death rates am
ong them.
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report19
ac
hie
vem
en
ts du
ring
20
13
The key activities undertaken for enhancem
ents of programm
atic managem
ent of drug resistant TB under RN
TCP in India are summ
arized below:
yIndia has introduced PM
DT services in all 35 states on 24th March 2013. As on February 2014,PM
DT services are available in all 35 states of the country across 704 districts covering the entire population (100%
) of the country
y110 D
R TB wards established w
ith airborne infection control measures by end of 2013.
yThe country has show
n an accelerated progress in scale up of PMDT diagnostic services as com
pared to the early im
plementation years from
2007 – 2012. A total of 51 C-DST labs w
ere established using various technologies- 37 Solid culture labs, 12 Liquid culture labs and 41 LPA labs.
y181021 M
DR-TB suspects w
ere tested for MD
R-TB and 20763 patients were initiated on M
DR-TB treatm
ent during 2013.
yFocused and periodic intensive PM
DT review m
eetings at regional levels with key state officials w
ere conducted in 2013 w
ith the objective to closely monitor the progress m
ade by every state in their PMDT
scale up plans and to further accelerate the scale up of PMDT services by addressing challenges through
timely intervention.
yProgram
me is in the process of developing guidelines and regulation of new
er anti-TB drugs in India. To look into possibility of introduction of Bedaquiline in India a protocol for m
ulti-centric study is being finalized for four selected sites in the country.
yAdditional H
uman R
esources: Each DRTB Centre is provided w
ith a counselor. Counseling of DRTB patients
and their families is im
portant for compliance to treatm
ent, identification and managem
ent of adverse reaction to drugs and to ensure social security.
ne
we
r initia
tives in
pM
Dt
One of the aims of ensuring effective m
anagement of tuberculosis (TB) is to m
inimize the developm
ent of drug resistance. Surveillance of antituberculosis drug resistance is, therefore, an essential tool for m
onitoring the effectiveness of TB control program
mes and im
proving national and global TB control efforts. Antituberculosis drug resistance am
ong new and previously untreated TB cases, a proxy indicator for prim
ary or initial drug resistance, suggests tuberculosis transm
ission. Antituberculosis drug resistance among previously treated TB
cases, a proxy indicator for acquired drug resistance, suggests failure of effective managem
ent in the prior TB episode.
Worldw
ide, approximately 4%
of new cases and 20%
of previously treated cases had multidrug resistant TB
(MD
R-TB), that is TB resistant to at least two of the first-line drugs, isoniazid and rifam
picin [1,2]. Extensively drug resistant TB (XD
R-TB), a severe form of TB, has been reported by 84 countries, and the average proportion
of MD
R-TB cases with XD
R-TB worldw
ide is 9.0%. By the end of 2011, China, India and the Russian Federation
contributed to almost 60%
of the estimated global burden of M
DR-TB, yet to date, no nationally representative
antituberculosis drug resistance data is available in India.
The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program
me (RN
TCP)with support from
U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the W
orld Health Organization (W
HO); is in the process of undertaking a
“National Antituberculosis D
rug Resistance Survey” in a representative sample of both new
ly diagnosed sputum
smear-positive pulm
onary TB cases and previously treated sputum sm
ear-positive pulmonary TB cases.
The survey will provide a statistically representative national estim
ate of the prevalence of antituberculosis drug resistance am
ong new and previously treated patients in India, and w
ill contribute to a more accurate estim
ate of antituberculosis drug resistance globally.
20 3.3
tB
-hiv
Ba
ck
gro
un
dTuberculosis and H
IV duo forms the deadly synergy; the patients w
ith these diseases more often w
ill have unfavourable outcom
es. HIV infection increases the risk of progression of latent TB infection to active TB disease
thus increasing risk of death if not timely treated for both TB and H
IV. Correspondingly, TB is the most com
mon
opportunistic infection and cause of mortality am
ong people living with H
IV (PLHIV), difficult to diagnose and
treat owing to challenges related to co-m
orbidity, pill burden, co-toxicity and drug interactions. HIV prevalence
among incident TB patients is estim
ated to be 5.95% (95%
CI 5.93%–5.97%
). 130000 HIV-associated TB
patients are emerging annually. By num
bers India ranks 2nd in the world and accounts for about 10%
of the global burden of H
IV-associated TB. The mortality in this group is very high and every year: 42000 people die
every year among TB/H
IV coinfected patients.
TB-H
IV collaborative activities between Revised N
ational Tuberculosis Control Programm
e (RNTCP) and
Departm
ent of AIDS Control (DAC) started initially in the year 2001. Since then, TB-H
IV activities have evolved tim
e to time in line w
ith updated scientific evidences prevailed. National Fram
ework for joint TB-H
IV collaborative activities w
as developed under which N
ational and State TB/HIV coordinating m
echanism w
ere put in place; Service delivery level coordination bodies w
ere established at district level. Components such as dedicated
human resources, integration of surveillance, joint training, standard recording &
reporting, joint monitoring &
evaluation, operational research w
ere strategically implem
ented and nationwide coverage w
as achieved in July 2012. At the N
ational level TB-HIV coordination com
mittee (N
TCC) and technical working group (N
TWG
) regularly m
onitor and suggest on key policy related to TB/HIV Collaborative activities.
pro
gre
ss Interventions to reduce the burden of TB am
ong people living with H
IV include the early provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living w
ith HIV in line w
ith WH
O guidelines and the Three I’s for HIV/TB: intensified TB
case-finding followed by high-quality antituberculosis treatm
ent, isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) and infection control in H
IV care setting. There has been significant improvem
ent on above indicators in recent years. India adopted all recom
mendations suggested by the W
orld Health Organization recom
mended TB/H
IV collaborative activities.
HIV testing of TB patients is now
routine through provider initiated testing and counseling (PITC), implem
ented in all states. At Country level, as of 4th Quarter (Oct-D
ec) 2013, 61% of TB patients knew
their HIV status w
hich has increased from
11% in 2008. In 2013, 887903 TB patients (63%
of total TB patients registered) were tested
for HIV; 45,999 (5%
of those tested) were diagnosed as H
IV positive and were offered access to H
IV care.
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report21
Trend of proportion of TB patients w
ith known H
IV Status, 4Q08-4Q
13
Trend of HIV-infected TB
patients receiving CPT during TB treatm
ent, 4q 2008 – 4q 2012
The updated WH
O TB/HIV policy of 2012 recom
mended im
plementation of PITC am
ong presumptive TB cases.
Considering the country evidence and global recomm
endation, the National Technical W
orking Group on TB/H
IV decided to im
plement PITC am
ong presumptive TB cases in all “high” H
IV prevalent settings in India (A and B category districts) in a phased m
anner. Routine screening of Presumptive TB cases for H
IV is being implem
ented in phase w
ise manner throughout the country.
Similarly Am
ong HIV-infected TB patients diagnosed in 4Q13 91%
were put on (co-trim
oxazole preventive therapy (CPT). The coverage of ART am
ong TB patients who w
ere known to be H
IV-positive reached 86% in patients
registered in Oct-Dec 2012, up from
49% in 2008.
22
Trend of HIV-infected TB
patients receiving ART during TB
treatment, 4q 2008 – 4q 2012
Intensified TB case finding has been implem
ented nationwide at all H
IV Care centers (at Integrated Counseling and Testing Centres (ICTCs) and ART centres. As of D
ecember 2013, 410 ART centres, and 871 link ART centres
and 158 Link ART plus Centres are operating in the country. Table below show
s the trend of intensive case finding at ICTC and ART centres in India.
YearTotal
clientsPresum
ptive TB
cases referred
Total TB
cases D
etected
Total Put on D
OTS
Proportion referred
Proportion detected TB
Proportion
Put on DO
TS
ICTC
20107678746
48461751412
401856%
11%78%
20119774581
58069555572
422236%
10%76%
20129193113
55235046863
368426%
8%79%
20137264722
62053964506
454719%
10%71%
ART Centre
20101748431
5673915911
133183%
28%84%
20113822281
11152128435
237733%
25%84%
20125591758
13711328012
244102%
20%87%
20136483326
16638324914
231243%
15%93%
In proportion ART and ICTC centres contributes to around 4% of case finding of the RN
TCP (Table below).
Table: Trend of Intensive case finding at ICTC and ART centers India
Table: Contribution of ICTC and ART centers in TB
case detection
YearTotal TB
cases Detected
(ICF ICTC+ ART)
Total cases Put on D
OTS
Total TB cases notified
under RN
TCPPercentage Contribution of ICF in TB
notification2010
6732353503
15214383.5%
201184007
659961515872
4.4%2012
7487561252
14675854.2%
201389420
685951415617
4.8%
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report23
Table: Trend of Treatment outcom
e among TB
/HIV patients
Country is monitoring Treatm
ent outcome am
ong TB HIV patients over the years (Table Below
).
YearAll TB
-HIV Total
Case Registered
Treatment
SuccessD
iedFailure
Default
Transferred out
Switch to
Cat IV2009
3648327727 (76%
)5472 (15%
)365 (1%
)2189 (6%
)730(2%
)0
201043093
33277 (77%)
5764 (13%)
556 (1%)
2644 (6%)
724 (2%)
02011
4709736661 (78%
)5292 (11%
)2323 (5%
)2093 (4%
)488 (1%
)185 (0.5%
)2012
3413426363 (77%
) 4538 (13%
)418 (1%
)2230 (7%
)443 (1%
)150 (0.5%
)
imp
orta
nt d
eve
lop
me
nts /d
ec
ision
s in 2
01
31.
National Fram
ework for Joint H
IV/TB Collaborative Activities, Novem
ber 2013 has been published which
incorporates recent policy updates in NACP and RN
TCP and align with respective national strategic plan for
next 5 year along with recom
mendations in W
HO H
IV/TB policy guidelines 2012.
2. The form
erly-named ‘intensified package’ of H
IV/TB services is now the national TB/H
IV policy standard for all states. A single and uniform
policy, national policy framew
ork exists.
3. The G
overnment of India has constituted ‘N
ational TB/HIV Co-ordination Com
mittee’ (N
TCC) to oversee the TB H
IV coordination at various level.
4. Isoniazid Prevention Therapy (IPT) im
plementation plan approved by N
TWG
. The policy recomm
ends the use of a sim
plified clinical algorithm for TB screening that relies on the absence or presence of four clinical
symptom
s (current cough, weight loss, fever and night sw
eats) to identify people eligible for IPT or for further diagnostic w
ork-up of TB.) This is being implem
ented in phase wise m
anner.
5. RN
TCP has also endorsed the policy of prioritizing to offer rapid molecular test Xpert-M
TB/Rif (CBNN
AT) to all presum
ptive TB cases among PLH
IV for early diagnosis of TB as well as Rif resistance. Currently 80 such
CBNAAT m
achines deployed across the country.
6. PITC am
ong presumptive TB being im
plemented in phase w
ise manner in India
7. Airborne infection control at ART centres and associated H
IV care settings has been identified as an area of increasing im
portance. This component is crucial in cutting the chain of transm
ission for air borne diseases. N
ational Airborne Infection Control guidelines have been developed, including special recomm
endations for airborne infection control activities in ART centres. The sam
e has been endorsed by the NTW
G. Adm
inistrative, Environm
ental and respiratory control measures to be put I effect as per the existing AIC guideline.
8. The eligibility for receiving ART has been revised from
CD4 level of 350 to 500 for all PLH
IV. This step will
ensure that HIV positive persons are initiated on treatm
ent at an early stage and while enhancing their
longevity and productivity, it will contribute to preventing new
infections as well.
24 3.4
Ch
ildh
oo
d t
ub
erc
ulo
sis
Ba
ck
gro
un
dAs per the G
lobal Report on Tuberculosis 2013, there were an estim
ated 5,30,000 TB cases among children
(under 15 years of age) and 74000 TB deaths (among H
IV-negative children) in 2012 (6% and 8%
of the global totals, respectively). It is one of the top 10 causes of childhood m
ortality. Though MD
R-TB and XDR-
TB is documented am
ong paediatric age group, there are no estimates of overall burden, chiefly because of
diagnostic difficulties and exclusion of children in most of the drug resistance surveys.
pro
gra
m fe
atu
res fo
r pa
ed
iatric
tu
be
rcu
losis
In order to simplify the m
anagement of paediatric TB, RN
TCP in association with Indian Academ
y of Paediatrics (IAP) has described criteria for suspecting TB am
ong children, has separate algorithms for diagnosing pulm
onary TB and peripheral TB lym
phadenitis and a strategy for treatment and m
onitoring patients who are on treatm
ent. In brief, TB diagnosis is based on clinical features, sm
ear examination of sputum
where this is available, positive
family history, tuberculin skin testing, chest radiography and histo-pathological exam
ination as appropriate. The treatm
ent strategy comprises three key com
ponents. First, as in adults, children with TB are classified,
categorised, registered and treated with interm
ittent short-course chemotherapy (thrice-w
eekly therapy from
treatment initiation to com
pletion), given under direct observation of a treatment provider (D
OT provider) and the disease status is m
onitored during the course of treatment. Second, based on their pre- treatm
ent weight,
children are assigned to one of pre-treatment w
eight bands and are treated with good quality anti-TB drugs
through ‘‘ready-to-use’’ patient wise boxes containing the patients’ com
plete course of anti-TB drugs are made
available to every registered TB patient according to programm
e guidelines.
imp
lem
en
tatio
n sta
tus in
dia
RNTCP India is reporting the age w
ise case detection since beginning. The proportion of paediatric TB cases registered under RN
TCP has been constant in the past five years and for 2013, 63919 new TB cases w
ere notified accounting for 5%
of all cases. This is in the range of the expected incidence by WH
O report. How
ever considering difficulties in diagnosis of paediatric TB under field condition, the notification rates can be further strengthened.
Trend of Paediatric TB cases out of all N
ew TB
cases under RN
TCP
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report25
How
ever, the proportion of paediatric TB case detection significantly varies from 5-14%
in larger states.
Co
nta
ct t
rac
ing
an
d C
he
mo
pro
ph
ylax
isThe contact screening is one of the w
ays for intensified case finding activity which RN
TCP has implem
ented since its inception. Under RN
TCP all children less than 6 years of age, contacts of the family m
ember suffering
with active TB are screened for TB and provided IN
H chem
oprophylaxis once active TB has been ruled out. The im
plementation is through G
eneral Health System
, which varies from
place to place and the adherence to guideline is less than satisfactory. On analyzing last 10 Central Internal Evaluations conducted in year 2012, it w
as noted that 35% of children less than 6 years did not receive chem
oprophylaxis.
In general the integration of the programm
e to the basic health service is a key process to success and hence there is an opportunity to im
prove the situation further. It’s worth noting that, the induction training m
anual for m
edical officers, health care worker includes the com
ponent on contact screening and chemoprophylaxis.
Hence focusing on the training quality and post training follow
-up in long run will help to im
prove the situation. RN
TCP is focusing on the issue and continuously monitoring the perform
ance through regular review.
In addition the RNTCP under its case base w
eb base notification (NIKSH
AY), India has started getting following
information for all TB cases registered in India. This step w
ill further improve the m
onitoring the contact tracing and chem
o prophylaxis among children.
Photo: Dr. R
S Gupta (D
DG
-TB)delivering a lecture in 51st PED
ICON
at Indore
na
tion
al t
ec
hn
ica
l Wo
rkin
g G
rou
p (n
tW
G)
on
pa
ed
iatric
tB
The National Technical W
orking Group (N
TWG
) on Paediatric TB has been constituted and its first meeting took
place on July 2013. This comm
ittee has examined the current policy &
practices and provides suggestions to CTD
for improving situation of childhood TB.
ne
w in
itiative
s wh
ich
will b
e ta
ke
n u
p fo
r imp
rovin
g
situa
tion
of c
hild
ho
od
tB
yD
iagnosis of Pediatric TB
�RN
TCP will enhance the capacity for collection and processing of alternate sam
ples (GA/IS/BAL etc)
standardize the method for sam
ple collection and conduct trainings
�Program
me w
ill develop SOPs for sample collection and processing at district hospital level
26
�SOP for paediatricians outside the system
for:
�Correctly interpreting X ray findings and identifying radiological changes highly suggestive of TB
�G
iving intradermal TST and interpreting the findings of M
antoux test correctly
�diagnosis of paediatric TB through new
er diagnostic RNTCP approved technologies
yTreatm
ent of Pediatric TB
�Program
is actively considering
�D
aily treatment regim
en to be provided for all pediatric TB cases.
�D
ispersible FDCs are to be used in children provided that the defined criteria are m
et
�M
aking DOT patient-friendly: Program
will explore alternative approaches like “M
other or care giver at hom
e as DOT provider”
�12 m
onths of treatment to be given for serious form
s of TB i.e. miliary TB, TB m
eningitis, disseminated
TB, spinal TB and osteo-articular TB.
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report27
3.5
pa
rtne
rship
sTo achieve “Universal access to TB care and treatm
ent for all,” RNTCP has taken steps to reach the unreached
through synergising the efforts of all partners and stakeholders. This change is reflected through increased allocation for partnerships, increase in m
anpower through sanction of dedicated positions to focus on partnership
at state and district levels, greater flexibility to allow for innovation, capacity building through focussed training
and an enabling environment to pilot new
initiatives and supplement efforts being m
ade by RNTCP in both rural
and urban areas.
The guidelines for the NG
O/PP schemes have undergone revision in 2008 and are again under revision in
consultation with various stakeholders to provide them
with m
ore options as per RNTCP priorities. RN
TCP is also exploring options for structured engagem
ent with private sector partners in m
ajor cities of India with prim
ary focus on notification through innovative partnership m
echanisms. At present RN
TCP has established 2569 NG
O partnerships and 13150 collaborations w
ith private practitioners and other private sector entities.
CB
Ci C
ar
D
CBCI-CARD (Catholic Bishops Conference of India-Coalition for AID
S & Related D
iseases) is a civil society organisation com
prising over 3000 healthcare and social work facilities, associated w
ith the Catholic Church in India. The CBCI-CARD
Project is a GFATM
supported partnership initiative of RNTCP, w
hich endeavours to im
prove access to diagnostic and treatment services w
ithin the Catholic Church Healthcare Facilities (CH
Fs) and thereby im
prove the quality of care for patients suffering from tuberculosis in India.
Under this partnership, across 19 states of India, field consultants visit CHFs, conduct situational analysis, liaise
with program
me m
anagers and other CHF personnel to participate in TB control and care. The project conducts
training and sensitization workshops for healthcare providers to ensure that RN
TCP is implem
ented according to guidelines, ensures participation of CH
Fs in the programm
e through MoUs signed w
ith the local District/
State TB Programm
e Managers under the N
GO-PP schem
es, sensitization workshops and training program
mes
at national, state and district levels are also conducted to facilitate effective dialogue and interaction between
partners. Advocacy, awareness generation, supervision and m
onitoring are important com
ponents of the project.
28 The key achievements of the project are:
y9879 TB patients w
ere notified to district TB authorities
y9008 sputum
positive TB patients were diagnosed from
86 designated microscopy centres (D
MCs)
yFive M
edical Colleges, 9 DN
B training institutes, 90 hospitals and 433 dispensaries have been involved in RN
TCP
y2721 hospital and health centre staffs w
ere sensitized in RNTCP
y1480 m
edical and paramedical personnel underw
ent one-day RNTCP m
odular trainings
y77 school health activities w
ere organized
y77920 TB suspects w
ere referred for sputum exam
ination to RNTCP D
MCs
yW
orld TB Day activities w
ere organized in 95 centres across 19 states
Fo
un
da
tion
for in
no
vative
ne
w D
iag
no
stics (F
inD
) FIN
D w
orks as an implem
enting partner, providing access to rapid and quality assured diagnosis of TB and M
DR TB as per the N
ational PMDT scale up plan. FIN
D supplem
ents RNTCP efforts through technical support,
equipment, consum
ables, human resources, infrastructure, m
onitoring and mentoring It provides 300 additional
laboratory professionals under the GFATM
project. These include microbiologists, technical officers, technicians
and attendants to support day-to-day functioning of the laboratories.
Key activities of the year include:
yEight national-level trainings for 89 laboratory professionals equipping them
with hands-on know
ledge of diagnostic procedures
y35 onsite trainings in rapid TB diagnostics for 275 people
yIn the first three quarters of 2013, about 100,000 M
DR TB suspects w
ere tested with new
rapid TB diagnostics and about 17,000 M
DR TB cases w
ere diagnosed
ind
ian
Me
dic
al a
ssoc
iatio
n (iM
a)
The IMA RN
TCP PPM project started as a sub recipient to the Central TB D
ivision’s Global Fund Round Six in
April 2008 in five states and one union territory of India, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, H
aryana, Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh covering 167 districts. Subsequently, 10 more states viz Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tam
il Nadu, Uttaranchal and W
est Bengal were added.
The objective of this project is to improve access to the diagnostic and treatm
ent services of DOTS and thereby,
improve the quality of care for patients suffering from
tuberculosis through the involvement of IM
A leaders and RN
TCP staff. The key activities undertaken as part of the project include state/district level workshops,
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report29
publication of quarterly TB/RNTCP new
sletter, publication in JIMA, district level CM
E’s of all the IMA branches in
the target states, produce IEC materials, assist DTOs in training of private providers etc.
Key achievements are:
ySensitization of 86626 private m
edical practitioners on RNTCP
yTraining of 14982 private doctors in 15 states and one union territory
yUnder this project 4314 D
OTS centres and 95 DM
Cs are functional
ph
arm
ac
ist pa
rtne
rship
The managem
ent of TB patients requires a multi-disciplinary approach by a m
ulti-disciplinary team. As com
munity
pharmacies are often the first port of call for patients seeking healthcare, pharm
acists form a crucial part of
this team. For system
atic and comprehensive engagem
ent of pharmacists and chem
ists it is crucial to work
with their associations, provide training and possibly accreditation. The Central TB D
ivision signed an MOU w
ith the Indian Pharm
aceutical Association (IPA), All India Organisation of Chemists &
Druggists (AIOCD
), Pharmacy
Council of India (PCI) and SEARPharm Forum
representing World H
ealth Organization (WH
O) – International Pharm
aceutical Federation (FIP) Forum of N
ational Associations in South East Asia for engaging pharmacists
in RNTCP.
Pharmacists training in G
ujarat Pharm
acists training in Chennai by REACH
Key achievements include:
yD
evelopment of training m
odule for engagement of com
munity pharm
acists
yTraining of m
aster trainers for the engagement of com
munity pharm
acists in select states
yState level training of pharm
acists in Gujarat and W
est Bengal
yEngagem
ent of comm
unity pharmacists through N
GO partners supported by Eli Lilly in select states using
RNTCP m
odule
y1031 com
munity pharm
acists have undergone modular training and 350 pharm
acists are referring suspects to RN
TCP and 23 pharmacists are w
orking as DOTS provider.
imp
rovin
g h
ea
lth B
eh
avio
r pro
jec
t (ihB
p)
The IHBP supplem
ents the efforts of RNTCP on ACSM
with focus on institutional capacity building. The m
ajor activities conducted under this initiative include:
yTw
o workshops on ACSM
and media engagem
ent were conducted jointly by the Central TB D
ivision and IH
BP. A total of 33 state IEC and ACSM officers w
orking under RNTCP participated in the program
me.
30
ySupport in strengthening m
edia engagement in RN
TCP programm
e, through media content analysis of
tuberculosis in the country. The media analysis w
as carried out from February till Septem
ber 2013 to understand the dynam
ics of news m
edia discussion about tuberculosis in India.
yA study to assess the im
plementation of ACSM
in states with respect to its planning, im
plementation,
monitoring and evaluation. The assessm
ent was carried out in six states - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, G
ujarat, M
eghalaya and Karnataka.
th
e in
tern
atio
na
l un
ion
ag
ain
st tu
be
rcu
losis a
nd
lu
ng
D
isea
ses
Project ‘Axshya’ (meaning TB-Free) is being im
plemented by The Union South East Asia Office (USEA) since April
2010. ‘Axshya’ is a unique civil society initiative working tow
ards improving access to quality TB care and support
especially for the vulnerable and marginalized populations across 300 districts across 21 States. W
orking in tandem
with the flagship RN
TCP, the project through advocacy, comm
unication and comm
unity engagement
activities assists in enhancing comm
unity ownership and creating dem
and for quality services for TB control.
Key achievements of the project are:
yAxshya facilitated referral and testing of over 3, 50,000 TB sym
ptomatics, of w
hich over 21,000 were
diagnosed as smear positive TB patients. Of these, over 20,000 w
ere successfully initiated on treatment.
yThe project reached out to over 2,00,000 people through m
ore than 16,000 comm
unity meetings held w
ith the G
aon Kalyan Samitis, Panchayati Raj Institutions (local self-governm
ent)) and Self Help G
roups (SHG
s).
yThe project has trained over 3,000 RH
CPs and AYUSH Providers.
yThe project scaled up the sputum
collection and transportation services thus facilitating TB symptom
atic from
inaccessible areas in availing programm
e services.
yOver 250 TB forum
s have been formed at the district level and have facilitated nutritional support, linkages
with social w
elfare schemes, rehabilitation of several thousand TB patients. The forum
s are also actively sensitizing the TB patients on their rights and responsibilities through the Patient Charter on TB care and control.
yTB Epidem
iology: A TB Epidemiology Course w
as organized from 4-15 M
arch 2013, at the National Institute
of TB and Respiratory Diseases.
Wo
rld v
ision
ind
iaTo support RN
TCP in improving TB case detection, W
orld Vision India (WVI) and its 6 civil society partners -
GLRA, AD
RA India, CARE India, SHIS, TB Alert and LEPRA India have been im
plementing Project Axshya in
selected problematic areas in W
est Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and
Andhra Pradesh, with the assistance of G
lobal Fund Round 9 TB Grant since April 2010. The key interventions
of the project involve engaging local grass-root level CBOs and comm
unity care givers in TB control and care, linking them
with RN
TCP through advocacy, capacity building and mobilization activities and strengthening
health systems. The key achievem
ents of the project are:
yTraining 153 Project M
anagers of TI projects and 532 mem
bers of district level PLHIV netw
orks
y1180 RH
CPs and AYUSH practitioners on TB and RN
TCP
y140 trainers and 1771 RN
TCP and health staff on soft-skills
yFacilitated 140 Village H
ealth & Sanitation Com
mittees (VH
SCs) to develop their TB action plan
yAssisted RN
TCP in the retrieval of 911 default cases, referred 20,521 suspects, tested 17,425 cases, detected 2207 TB cases and put 2134 TB cases on D
OTS.
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report31
th
e p
artn
ersh
ip fo
r tu
be
rcu
losis C
are
an
d C
on
trol
The Partnership for Tuberculosis Care and Control (PTCC) brings together civil society on a comm
on platform to
support and strengthen India’s national TB control efforts. It serves as a liaison and coordinating body among
groups involved in TB care and control initiatives.
The key activities undertaken in the year were:
yM
embership of PTCC has risen to 177 organizations and has placed 19 state focal points chosen by state
partners and the State TB Officer
yTo recognize/acknow
ledge the effort of individuals and organizations working for tuberculosis care and
control in India, PTCC has instituted an Annual award for TB cham
pions - individual and TB Campion
Organization from across India.W
inner of the first award in organization category w
as P. D. H
induja Hospital
and in the individual category it was D
r. Nalini Krishnan, REACH
. Each received a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and a m
emento during the national m
eeting of PTCC.
yThe regional m
eetings of the Western and N
orthern regions were held at Indore and N
ew D
elhi respectively in collaboration w
ith the Central TB Division. The objective of the m
eetings was to provide a platform
for brainstorm
ing among all stakeholders in finding collaborative solutions to various challenges in the field
and chalking out state-wise action plan on strengthening RN
TCP. .
yThe Partnership new
sletter Partners Speak, which features best practices, case studies etc. w
as distributed am
ongst participants.
pro
gra
mm
e fo
r ap
pro
pria
te t
ec
hn
olo
gy in
he
alth
(pa
th
)PATH
provides RNTCP w
ith technical assistance to support its efforts to strengthen the laboratory network’s
capacity to diagnose drug-resistant TB; facilitate the introduction of improved infection control practices and
build infection control expertise within India and support the effective expansion of Program
matic M
anagement
of Drug Resistant TB (PM
DT) activities.
During the year 2013, PATH
has supported RN
TCP in the following activities:
yCollaborated w
ith FIND
, WH
O, State TB Offices and National Reference Laboratories (N
RLs) to undertake clean room
upgrades for the introduction of Line Probe Assays.
yConducted tuberculosis laboratory m
anagement training in collaboration w
ith CTD, W
HO and FIN
D.
yUnder the leadership of the CTD
, partner Initiatives Inc., with support from
PATH and W
HO com
pleted Phase 3 of the H
uman Resources for H
ealth pilot in four districts to test district administrative and block program
me
managem
ent integration. The pilot yielded some notable achievem
ents including the orientation of district and block staff.
yAudio visual training m
odules, which w
ill be used by various agencies and institutions identified by the Central TB D
ivision for training of Block Medical Officers.
ta
rge
ted
rh
Cp
inte
rven
tion
– un
ion
pro
jec
t sup
po
rted
by
lilly M
Dr
-tB
pa
rtne
rship
This project involves engagement w
ith RHCPs to build their capacity and establish effective linkages betw
een the RN
TCP and NG
Os. These trained providers then act as a DOT provider and refer TB sym
ptomatics to D
MCs.
The project has been piloted in four districts in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The districts were selected based on RN
TCP performance data for Q3 2011 - low
er symptom
atic referral (<100/100000) and annualized total case notification rate (<135/100000).
32 A mobile application is being piloted in three D
MCs of Khunti, a tribal district in Jharkhand India. Tw
o applications have been developed under the m
obile platform. One is used by RH
CPs and NG
O supervisors while referring
patients to DM
Cs and the other is used by laboratory technicians to upload the sputum test results of referred
patients, thus creating a referral and tracking database updated on real-time basis. The application also includes
engaging audio-visual clips to aid RHCPs counselling on TB. In the seven m
onths since its f implem
entation, 314 sym
ptomatics have been referred, of w
hich 22 have been diagnosed with TB and put on D
OTs. The RHCPs have
also become D
OT providers for these TB patients. Overall, in four sites 588 RHCPs w
ere trained, 1079 chest sym
ptomatic w
ere referred, 110 TB patients were diagnosed and 80 RH
CPs were providing D
OTS between M
ay and D
ecember 2013.
Patient referral using mobile application and counselling
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report33
invo
lvem
en
t of M
ed
ica
l Co
lleg
es in
rn
tC
pUnder RN
TCP Medical Colleges play im
portant roles in service delivery, advocacy, training and operational research. RN
TCP is supporting Medical Colleges w
ith additional human resources, logistics for m
icroscopy, funds to conduct sensitizations, trainings and research in RN
TCP priority areas. Medical colleges have contributed in
a major w
ay in finding more TB cases, especially sm
ear negative and extra - pulmonary cases. Keeping in view
of increasing participation of M
edical colleges in the Programm
e as tuberculosis units, microscopy centers,
treatment observation centres, etc., m
edical colleges are currently divided into six zones North, East, W
est, South 1, South 2 and N
orth-East Zones. At present over 330 medical colleges both public and private m
edical colleges have been involved in TB control in India.
The Medical college involvem
ent under RNTCP is through the Task Force M
echanism w
herein the representation from
the Medical College faculty in each m
edical college core comm
ittee, representation from each m
edical college core com
mittee in the State Task Force and at the Zonal Task Force.
Medical College Core Com
mittee: A M
edical College Core comm
ittee is formed in each M
edical college including least 4 m
embers, w
ith representatives from departm
ent of medicine, chest m
edicine, microbiology
and comm
unity medicine. The Core Com
mittee functions to establish quality assured sputum
smear m
icroscopy facility in the m
edical college as well as treatm
ent and referral services to all kind of TB patients. Furthermore
it Organize sensitization / workshops / trainings for faculty m
embers / PG
s / UGs / Interns / param
edical staff, etc and also undertake Operational Research for RN
TCP.
Each Medical College is provided w
ith a Medical Officer, Lab technician and a TB H
ealth Visitor to facilitate the RN
TCP activities through the respective District H
ealth Societies. The logistics for the laboratory and all the reporting form
ats are provided by RNTCP
State Task Force (STF): Composed of a Chairm
an who is an elected representative from
the medical college
in the State, STO of the State is the mem
ber secretary. Mem
bers of STF include representatives of each of the M
edical colleges of the State, on rotation basis if required. The main task of STF is to provide leadership and
advocacy, coordination, undertake monitoring, lead operational research and support policy developm
ent on issues related to effective involvem
ent of medical colleges in RN
TCP at State level and to ensure establishment
of DM
C cum D
OT centres in all Medical Colleges.
Zonal Task Force (ZTF): Composed of a Chairm
an who is an elected representative from
STF chairpersons in the respective Zone w
ith two years tenure. M
ember secretary of ZTF w
ill be the STO of the State where M
edical College of ZTF Chairm
an is situated. Mem
bers of ZTF are representatives of the State Task forces within the
zone. In addition to Ensuring constitution of State Task Force (STF) in all States under the Zone, the main task of
ZTF is to provide leadership and advocacy, coordination, undertake monitoring, lead operational research and
support policy development on issues related to effective involvem
ent of medical colleges in RN
TCP at Zonal level. The annual Zonal Task Force (ZTF) CM
Es cum w
orkshops are held every year. The Medical college Zonal
task force workshop is an opportunity for review
ing the performance of m
edical colleges and advocating the guidelines of RN
TCP.
S. No.
ZoneVenue of ZTF
1W
est ZoneG
oa2
South 2 ZonePudducherry
3N
orth ZoneD
haramshala, H
imachal Pradesh
4East Zone
Raipur, Chhattisgarh5
North East Zone
Dibrugarh, Assam
ZTF workshops w
ere held as follows during 2013
34 This year one of the key activities was the process of capacity building of the m
edical college faculty in doing operational research and for w
hich the Zonal OR Capacity building workshops have been initiated.
National Task Force (N
TF): The NTF com
prises of representatives from seven nodal m
edical colleges, CTD, TRC,
NTI, LRS and W
HO. It has a Chairm
an who is selected on rotational basis from
amongst the 7 nodal m
edical colleges. D
DG
(TB) is the mem
ber-secretary of the NTF. The m
ain task of NTF is to provide leadership and
advocacy, coordination, undertake monitoring, lead operational research and support policy developm
ent on issues related to effective involvem
ent of medical colleges in RN
TCP at National level.
In 2013, the medical colleges diagnosed a total of 214330 TB cases including 95450 Sputum
Positive Pulm
onary, 40680 Sputum N
egative Pulmonary and 78200 Extra Pulm
onary TB cases.
re
sea
rch
un
de
r rn
tC
pThe RN
TCP is based on global scientific and operational guidelines and evidence, and that evidence has continued to evolve w
ith time. As new
evidence became available, RN
TCP has made necessary changes in
its policies and programm
e managem
ent practices. In addition, with the changing global scenario, RN
TCP is incorporating new
er and more com
prehensive approaches to TB control. To generate the evidence needed to guide policy m
akers and programm
e managers, the program
me im
plemented m
easures to encourage operational research (OR). Efforts of RN
TCP to promote OR yielded success and m
ost of the studies has are linked to the m
ain priorities of TB control.
The programm
e requires more know
ledge and evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to optimize policies,
improve service quality, and increase operational efficiency. This has led to the realization of the need for a m
ore proactive approach to prom
oting OR for the benefit of the TB control efforts. Further more, the program
me
seeks to better leverage the enormous technical expertise and resources existing w
ith in India both with in the
Programm
e, and across the many m
edical colleges, institutions, and agencies. Operational research aims to
improve the quality, effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility (coverage) of the control efforts.
Following is the sum
mary of num
ber of Operational Research proposals and status of approval by the mechanism
of State OR Com
mittees, Zonal OR Com
mittees and N
ational Standing OR Comm
ittee in year 3Q12-2Q13.
ParticularEast
West
North
North-East
South-ISouth-II
TotalPost G
raduate Thesis approved8
3911
413
1691
OR proposal submitted to Zonal
OR comm
ittee3
72
43
1019
OR proposal approved by Zonal OR com
mittee
20
14
010
17
imp
orta
nt d
eve
lop
me
nts
yN
ational Research Dissem
ination Workshop w
as organized on 26-27 August 2013 at Delhi; em
inent experts participated as delegates and presented operational research findings w
ith policy implications
yProgram
has initiated process to develop web-based application for stream
lining operational research to facilitate transparent and accountable system
ensuring timely feedback and decisions of the respective OR
comm
ittees to the applicant Principle Investigators.
yThe program
is considering establishment of a N
ational Research Cell which w
ill act as a focal point for Research in RN
TCP.
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report35
3.6
Ca
se stu
die
s of c
om
mu
nity in
terve
ntio
n
CB
Ci-C
ar
DD
iagnosing 100% M
DR
TB patients in M
eghalaya
The Nazareth H
ospital, Shillong invested in a TB culture laboratory based on Line-Probe Assay, while w
orking closely w
ith the CBCI CARD and the State TB Cell. The hospital has been certified by the Central TB D
ivision and is the only laboratory in the state diagnosing M
DR-TB. The N
azareth Hospital w
as also given the Best NG
O award
in the state on the World TB D
ay.
Inauguration of LPA by Mr. D
.P. Wahlang, Com
missioner of H
ealth, in the presence of Archbishop Dom
inic Jala
se
cu
rity ag
ain
st tB
Mr Jonus Soreng, 40 years, w
ho worked as security guard lost his job after he w
as diagnosed w
ith spinal TB with paraplegia. H
is condition deteriorated within days and
he was unable to even sit dow
n. The Sisters of Missionaries of Charity carried him
to their centre Shanti Bhaw
an, Gopabandhupally, Rourkela w
hich also functions as a D
OT centre. Over 42 TB cases have been treated at this centre between Jan.-D
ec. 2013. The centre also offers residential and nutrition facilities to patients. M
r. Soreng w
as put on treatment in April and com
pleted treatment in D
ecember 2013 under the
supervision of the Sisters. He has now
recovered and resumed w
ork.
Fro
m a
tB
pa
tien
t to b
ein
g th
e c
lass to
pp
er
Fatima lives in a slum
in Kolkata. She was suffering from
extra pulmonary TB and receiving D
OTS from Seva
Kendra since October 2012. She was unable to attend school regularly and lead a norm
al life because of her illness. After taking m
edicines for 2-months, she started feeling w
ell and her family m
embers thought she had
been cured and decided to stop her medicine. The D
OT provider Shama Khatoon and Sister Rozina visited
her home, counselled her parents and helped them
understand that the full course of DOT is necessary and
incomplete treatm
ent can put the patient at risk of developing drug resistant MD
R TB which is difficult to cure.
She resumed her m
edicines and completed her treatm
ent. Now
she is able to concentrate on her studies and socialise w
ith her friends. She topped her class in the annual examinations and has been prom
oted to Class X now.
36 ind
ian
Me
dic
al a
ssoc
iatio
nThe IM
A PPM G
FATM Project has been sensitising and training private m
edical practitioners in order to involve them
in RNTCP and TB control initiatives. Keeping in m
ind the priority of notification, the IMA consultant actively
counselled Kamala N
ursing at Vishakapattanam to get involved in the project by notifying TB cases w
hich is now
mandatory. The establishm
ent has agreed over a period of 9-months has exam
ined 241 TB suspects, of which
it has notified and put on treatment 85 TB cases to RN
TCP.
th
e u
nio
nTB
Forum initiatives: N
utritional support for MD
R-TB
patients
The TB forum in Villupuram
district of Tamil N
adu has been active in ensuring extended nutritional support for children w
ith MD
R-TB. Roshni, a six-year-old girl, w
ho has been diagnosed with M
DR-TB a beneficiary
of this initiative. The daughter of an autorickshaw driver, she had just
completed kindergarten w
hen she was diagnosed w
ith TB and taken to a private hospital for treatm
ent. How
ever, her treatment w
as discontinued after 2-m
onths when her parents w
ere unable to afford the medication.
Her condition w
orsened and she was eventually referred to the RN
TCP for examination. H
ere, she was diagnosed
with M
DR-TB.
The family’s financial condition deteriorated and they couldn’t even afford food for Roshni. The Project Axshya
District Coordinator heard of her plight and introduced her fam
ily to the local TB Forum. The forum
organised nutritional support Roshni, including w
heat, a health drink, vegetables and nutrition powder as w
ell as stationery for her studies. The TB Forum
raises funds from local donors and sponsors to m
eet their operational costs and ensure sustainability of support initiatives.
Brid
gin
g t
B a
nd
hiv
M
rs. Unnamalai is an outreach w
orker with Project Axshya in Arani block,
Navalpakkam
of Villupuram D
istrict, which w
orks against mother to-child
HIV transm
issions. After receiving training under Project Axshya, she has been w
orking for TB control and has contributed significantly in the past year by follow
ing up and referring the PLHIVs for TB test and treatm
ent.
She plays a pivotal role in identifying and following up w
ith HIV positive
pregnant wom
en in the block and encouraging them to get tests for TB.
Over the past year, she has counseled over 140 HIV positive w
omen and
11 of them w
ere diagnosed with TB. She constantly strives to ensure
that all her patients are getting preventive treatment for both H
IV and TB, thereby bridging the gap between both
the programm
es. Apart from facilitating their treatm
ent, she puts in much effort to ensure that these patients
do not interrupt treatment by travelling the extra distance to reach them
as and when necessary for counseling
and guidance.
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report37
Me
ssiah
of t
BM
r. Manas Kum
ar Dhara is a com
munity volunteer in Project Axshya and
works in the Tam
luk Tuberculosis Unit (TU) of the challenging district of East M
edinipur. GLRA, a SR partner of W
orld Vision India implem
ents Project Axshya in East M
edinipur and seven other districts of West Bengal.
A number of tim
es, as we have traversed through the dusty roads and
narrow bylanes of Tam
luk, meeting villagers, PRI and club m
embers, SH
Gs
and other comm
unity groups, as part of TB control activities, we have heard
the varying tales of Mr M
anas, as if a messiah of D
OTS, who roam
s around every day enquiring about TB sym
ptoms, referring suspects, providing D
OTS, retrieving defaulters, counseling patients and peers, and tagging the needy patients to social support schem
es. His daily schedule starts early
in the morning and ends late evening. A readily available and com
mitted volunteer, w
e found both patients and health providers looking up to him
for support related to TB cure and care. He has also been acting as a
Comm
unity DOT-Plus Provider for a num
ber of MD
R cases. A summ
ary of his achievements in the July-Septem
ber quarter are listed below
:
y28 suspects w
ere referred
yEight patients w
ere confirmed TB
ySeven default retrieval and 10 TB patients w
ere linked to social support schemes
a m
ea
nin
gfu
l pa
rtne
rship
M
r. G. Venkata Sw
ami of Shivani M
edicals, Kasipet in Mandam
arri TU in Adilabad district was identified by
REACH for training and involvem
ent as comm
unity pharmacist w
orking for TB control. After undergoing modular
training he became m
otivated to work for TB patients. H
e referred eight TB symptom
atic cases and two am
ongst them
were diagnosed w
ith pulmonary TB. These num
bers were achieved over a span of just four m
onths. Sreenivas an 18-year-old boy w
as suffering with cough and often visited M
r. Swam
i for medicines. M
r. Swam
i referred Sreenivas for a TB test and sent his assistant w
ith him to the D
MC. After being diagnosed positive for
TB, Sreenivas expressed his apprehension about taking DOTS from
the local ASHA w
orker who w
as a known
person. Understanding the sensitivity of the situation and fear of stigma, M
r. Swam
i come forw
ard to take up his D
OTS provision and assured him of confidentiality. After taking D
OTS, Sreenivas at present is much better
and is going to college regularly. As Mr. Sw
ami’s shop is near the bus-stand, Sreenivas takes his m
edicines on his w
ay to college. He serves as D
OTS provider to another person diagnosed with TB. M
ost of these referred sym
ptomatic cases cam
e to the medical shop for cough m
edicines.
38 3.7
ad
voc
ac
y, Co
mm
un
ica
tion
an
d s
oc
ial
Mo
biliza
tion
in r
nt
Cp
Advocacy, Comm
unication and Social Mobilization (ACSM
) is an important com
ponent of RNTCP and form
s a supportive strategy that focuses on addressing challenges related to early identification of TB cases, treatm
ent com
pletion and combating stigm
a.
As part of the strategy, multiple-stakeholders including policy-m
akers, healthcare providers, NG
Os, CBOs, local self-governm
ents, media and other vibrant com
munity groups are targeted for im
proved provision of treatment
and care.
Bu
ildin
g c
ap
ac
ities
The media advocacy w
orkshop for State TB Officers was organized in June to help them
reach out to the media
to appropriately articulate and highlight pertinent TB related issues.
The State IEC Officers are responsible for planning and implem
entation of ACSM strategy at both the State and
District levels. An ACSM
and media engagem
ent workshop w
as organized in Novem
ber in Delhi for IEC officers
from across all States and Union Territories (UTs) w
ith support from IH
BP - FHI 360, a partner organization. The
workshop aim
ed to develop the capabilities of State IEC officers in the planning and implem
entation of ACSM
activities in the field as well as enhancing outreach w
ithin comm
unities through the media.
Wo
rld t
B D
ay
The annual calendar of outreach and awareness initiatives culm
inate in a flurry of activities converging on 24 M
arch, celebrated the world over as the W
orld TB Day. This day is designed to help focus public attention on
tuberculosis and serve as a reminder of the fact that TB continues to be an epidem
ic in many parts of the w
orld to this day, especially our ow
n country –2,74,000 people die from TB each year in India. The W
orld TB Day
comm
emorates the day in 1882 w
hen Dr Robert Koch discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus,
charting the way tow
ards diagnosis and cure.
Like every year, the day was celebrated w
ith the usual zest and gusto across States and UTs. The theme w
as, ‘Stop TB in m
y life time – zero deaths from
TB.’ A complete spectrum
of activities were planned and executed
ranging from aw
areness walks and runs; quiz, draw
ing and painting competitions; folk dance, m
usic and a host of other aw
areness generating performances; exhibitions, events and other public functions to rew
ard and recognize patients, health providers, civil society m
embers, organizations and support groups.
Currently, there are four key activities integrated within the ACSM
strategy implem
ented at the district and sub-district levels, that seek to engage and interface w
ith individuals, groups and influencers within the com
munity
- patient provider meetings, com
munity level m
eetings, school-based activities and activities to sensitize PRIs and N
GOs etc.
In 2013-14 RN
TCP, reached out to people across the country through
y660241 patient provider m
eetings
y636899 com
munity level m
eetings
y108614 school outreach activities
y587110 sensitization m
eetings with PRIs, N
GOs etc.
These along with a com
plete set of planned activities helped the programm
e make inroads into the com
munity
to enhance case finding and treatment adherence along w
ith other programm
atic goals.
The first meeting of the ACSM
technical taskforce – the National ACSM
Advisory Comm
ittee comprising
stakeholders from RN
TCP, NG
O partners and specialists in core competency areas w
as convened in New
Delhi
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report39
in October 2013 to review RN
TCP ACSM strategy and its rollout. The advisory com
mittee set up four Sub-G
roups to help define a nuanced approach to planning and m
anagement; m
aterial development; training and education;
and monitoring and evaluation of ACSM
activities at the national, state, district and sub-district levels. The com
mittee shared inputs on policy, strategy and im
plementation aspects of ACSM
under the programm
e. Going
forward, it w
ill continue to assist in identifying needs, gaps and challenges to ensure a focused and strategic ACSM
support to the programm
e.
Jo
inin
g h
an
ds u
nd
er h
iv-t
B c
olla
bo
ratio
n
The Andhra Pradesh State TB Cell and State AIDS Control Society in collaboration w
ith NG
O partner TB Alert India organized a state level training of Project M
anagers of the Targeted Intervention HIV Projects on TB and
RNTCP services, and assist them
in developing a TB action plan to enhance early detection of TB cases in HIV
high risk groups like IDUs, m
igrants, sex workers and truckers.
Telugu film star D
r. Rajendra Prasad (extrem
e right) at the RN
TCP stall during the World AID
S Day 2013
sa
ying
it with
a so
ng
Manim
aran, ACSM Officer Puducherry, has helped script a Tam
il song on TB aw
areness, which w
as broadcast on FM radio channels in
Puducherry. The UT has also collaborated with the State Road Transport
Corporation to display stickers with m
essages on TB symptom
s and treatm
ent inside buses run by the corporation.
le
vera
gin
g o
pp
ortu
nitie
s to d
raw
fo
cu
s on
tB
The N
RI Samm
elan showcased opportunities across sectors in Punjab. The D
istrict TB Centre Jalandhar leveraged this opportunity to generate aw
areness about TB and RNTCP services am
ongst participants. Strategically placed signages, IEC m
aterial and audio-visual aids showcased docum
entaries and advertisements on TB. The
RNTCP staff interacted w
ith visitors at the event to build awareness about TB and the steps being taken by the
government to control and eradicate the disease.
ne
w Y
ea
r’s gre
etin
gThe D
istrict Health Society, M
ansa, organized a district level function to release the N
ew Year Calendar for 2013 w
ith TB-DOTS as its them
e. A newsletter w
ith New
Year w
ishes and information related to TB w
as also circulated to sarpanches of villages, rural clubs, Bharti Kissan Union, IM
A doctors and other departments.
40
3.8
Fin
an
cia
l pla
nn
ing
& m
an
ag
em
en
tRevised N
ational Tuberculosis Control Programm
e is a centrally sponsored scheme im
plemented through
NRH
M w
ith the State, District &
Municipal Corporation H
ealth Societies having a separate sub-account for TB Control Activities through w
hich the funds from the M
inistry of Health and Fam
ily Welfare are disbursed for
implem
entation of the project activities within the concerned State/ D
istrict/ Municipal Corporation.
Financial Managem
ent is an integral and important com
ponent for RNTCP. The planning process focuses on
financial analysis for programm
atic and managem
ent use and meeting reporting obligations for all stakeholders
and producing accurate and timely inform
ation that forms basis for better decisions, reducing delays and
bottlenecks. This also deals with overall financial m
anagement deals w
ith approval and review of annual plans
and budgets. The budgetary managem
ent is about fund flow m
echanisms, delegation of financial pow
ers, accounting and internal control system
and to ensure that funds are effectively used for programm
e objectives. It brings together planning, budgeting, accounting, disbursem
ents, procurements, financial reporting, internal
control including internal audit, external audit, filing programm
e updates and disbursement requests and
managing resources efficiently as w
ell as effectively. Fiduciary requirements are addressed by designing and
implem
enting effective audit mechanism
s at all levels. This provides reasonable assurance that:
(i) Operations are being conducted effectively, efficiently and in accordance w
ith RNTCP financial norm
s
(ii) Financial and operational reporting are reliable
(iii) Laws and regulations are being com
plied with
(iv) Assets and records are being maintained properly
Fo
cu
s are
as u
nd
er p
lan
nin
g a
nd
fin
an
cia
l ma
na
ge
me
nt
un
de
r rn
tC
p d
urin
g 1
2th
FY
p
The areas that will receive attention during 12th Five Year Plan of R
NTCP include:
yD
elegation of financial powers
yAsset m
anagement
yAudit structures
yG
rants managem
ent
yN
GO financing and accounts
yTim
ely settlement of advances
yInter-unit transfers
yAlignm
ent with the financial m
anagement of N
RHM
FMR
yH
uman resource for financial m
anagement
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report41
De
tails o
f allo
ca
tion
un
de
r rn
tC
p in
20
12
-13
an
d 2
01
3-1
4The overall financial perform
ance of RNTCP in the first tw
o years of 12th Five Year Plan is as under (all figures in Rs Crores):
Financial yearB
udgetary Estimate
(BE)
Revised Estim
ate (RE)
Final Estimate (FE)
Expenditure
2012-13710.15
557.15467.00
466.152013-14
710.15500.00
500.00472.59*
*All figures are till February 2014
Release and Expenditure in Financial Year 2013-14 (All figures in lakhs)
(Rs. in lakhs)
Sl.No.
Nam
e of the State / U
T2013-14
Releases
ExpenditureCash
Comm
odity Total
Cash Com
modity
Total1
Andhra Pradesh1782.22
2233.304015.52
977.562233.3
3210.862
Andaman &
Nicobar
73.082.15
75.2329.17
2.1531.32
3Arunachal Pradesh
408.579.91
418.48330.51
9.91340.42
4Assam
894.71364.61
1259.32797.76
364.611162.37
5Bihar
890.04134.70
1024.74585.62
134.7720.32
6Chandigarh
113.0221.72
134.7494.72
21.72116.44
7Chattisgarh
788.1813.02
801.2313.76
13.02326.78
8D
& N
Haveli
51.241.44
52.6833.63
1.4435.07
9D
aman &
Diu
24.801.03
25.837.87
1.038.9
10D
elhi1049.23
377.471426.7
476.52377.47
853.9911
Goa
75.9711.34
87.3162.66
11.3474
12G
ujarat1890.13
4025.135915.26
1627.924025.13
5653.0513
Haryana
451.6113.64
465.25406.44
13.64420.08
14H
imachal Pradesh
383.50127.02
510.52199.25
127.02326.27
15Jam
mu &
Kashmir
591.3288.69
680.01405.38
88.69494.07
16Jharkhand
886.6317.14
903.77531.49
17.14548.63
17Karnataka
1379.5863.74
1443.321296.84
63.741360.58
18Kerala
996.98662.31
1659.29562.07
662.311224.38
19Lakshadw
eep19.56
0.3519.91
6.010.35
6.3620
Madhya Pradesh
1449.59693.22
2142.81770.92
693.221464.14
21M
aharashtra4983.68
1039.076022.75
3617.61039.07
4656.6722
Manipur
255.8721.95
277.82264.35
21.95286.3
23M
eghalaya266.88
21.2288.08
136.8621.2
158.0624
Mizoram
295.928.17
304.09116.79
8.17124.96
25N
agaland233.18
20.08253.26
185.9520.08
206.0326
Orissa879.51
22.82902.33
795.8522.82
818.6727
Puducherry156.71
21.25177.96
95.8221.25
117.0728
Punjab694.91
358.421053.33
436.14358.42
794.5629
Rajasthan967.52
1082.072049.59
924.771082.07
2006.8430
Sikkim176.59
5.02181.61
98.895.02
103.9131
Tamil N
adu1578.88
927.252506.13
1312.56927.25
2239.8132
Tripura156.03
27.99184.02
89.0127.99
117
42
Annual audit under RN
TCP:
The annual audit of RNTCP is being done by D
irectorate General of Audit and Central Expenditure (D
CACE).
RN
TCP – financial updates in 2013
Following policy level updates have happened under RN
TCP in 2013:
1. The N
ational Strategic Plan of RNTCP w
as approved in January 2013 where RN
TCP was allocated a funding
of Rs 4500.15 crore under 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). The distribution across the plan period is as under:
Sl.No.
Nam
e of the State / U
T2013-14
Releases
ExpenditureCash
Comm
odity Total
Cash Com
modity
Total33
Uttar Pradesh 3817.66
1014.134831.79
2709.881014.13
3724.0134
Uttrakhand265.41
5.33270.74
254.635.33
259.9635
West Bengal
1119.85480.56
1600.411984.97
480.562465.53
Total30048.56
13917.2443965.80
22540.1713917.24
36457.41Releases to N
GOs/
Study1205.64
0.001205.64
153.410.00
153.41
HQ Expenditure
410.830.00
410.83409.84
0.00409.84
Grand Total
31665.0313917.24
45582.2723103.42
13917.2437020.66
Chapter 3: RN
TCP implem
entation status
TB Annual Report43
2. The new
financial norms of RN
TCP was approved in July 2013.
3. M
ission Steering Group (M
SG) has approved the revised incentives rates under RN
TCP. Also some new
incentive for program
under 12th Five Year Plan have been approved.
4. G
lobal Fund Grant, Single stream
funding Phase 2 was approved for CTD
with a funding of USD
226.74 m
illion for the period April 2013 to September 2015.
5. D
epartment of Econom
ic Affairs (DEA) has approved a credit of USD
100 million from
World Bank to RN
TCP for tw
o years starting from April 2014.
6. In Financial Year 2013-14, 693 m
ore Tuberculosis Units have been sanctioned which w
ill align the Tuberculosis Units w
ith BPMUs of N
RHM
.
7. The M
oU between M
oHFW
and WH
O has been signed under GFATM
Single Stream Funding TB grant.
44
TB Annual Report45
4.1
nik
sha
y (Ca
se B
ase
d
on
line
softw
are
) B
ackground: RNTCP since im
plementation follow
ed international guidelines
for recording
and reporting
for Tuberculosis
Control Program
me w
ith minor m
odifications. Epi-info based EPI-CENTRE
software
was
being used
for the
purpose of
electronic data
transmission from
district level upwards. Initially D
OS version was in
use and the programm
e shifted to window
s version in 2007. How
ever, the data available at district, state or national level w
as in aggregated form
, with a lead tim
e of >4 months, excluding private sector and
neither could help much for TB burden estim
ation or individual case m
anagement or m
onitoring. To address this Central TB Division (CTD
) in collaboration w
ith National Inform
atics Centre (NIC) undertook
the initiative to develop a Case Based Web online (cloud) application
named N
ikshay. This software w
as launched in May 2012 and has
following functional com
ponents.
yM
aster managem
ent
yUser details
yTB Patient registration &
details of diagnosis, DOT Provider, H
IV status, Follow
-up, contact tracing, Outcomes
yD
etails of solid and liquid culture & D
ST, LPA, CBNAAT details
yD
R-TB patient registration with details
yReferral and transfer of patients
yPrivate health facility registration and TB N
otification
yM
obile application for TB notification
ySM
S alerts to patients on registration
ySM
S alerts to programm
e officers
Ch
ap
te
r 4
: t
B s
ur
ve
ill
an
Ce
in
inD
ia W
ith
nik
sh
aY
46
yAutom
ated periodic Reports
�Case Finding
�Sputum
conversion
�Treatm
ent outcome
Da
ta se
cu
rity / co
nfi
de
ntia
litySecurity audit of N
ikshay application is done as per guidelines of Departm
ent of IT. Password protection is
applicable for each level of user. Password reset facility is available at higher users in hierarchy. Access to
relevant information for each user, based on defined functions.
Da
ta q
ua
litySince the softw
are do not itself generate information and alm
ost all information is digitized from
the source w
hich exists in the programm
e; the inherent quality of data of the programm
e is transferred. Transcription errors if any are being evaluated by the program
me in im
plementation research m
ode. How
ever, Nikshay
already has internal validations for most of the variables based on the logic flow
and conditionality’s. But a judgem
ent of choice of stricter validations against the availability of complete and accurate inform
ation; is also an opportunity to im
prove processes in the programm
e. It started with certain m
andatory fields which
were defined and these now
ensure completeness of inform
ation regarding those variables e.g. DOT provider
details. Unwanted characters avoided at entry. Regular feedback from
administrator to check bugs if any, has
been established. Most im
portantly data point formats of M
etadata and Data Standards (M
DD
S) have been follow
ed in the development of this could application. In future, this w
ill be the basis for system integration and
interoperability to set an example of EM
R/EHR.
Till 10th March 2014, status of im
plementation and is as below
:
TB Patients Registered under RNTCP
23,69,515
Peripheral Health Institutes (PH
I) registered41,277
Tuberculosis Officials details 2703
District TB Officers details
667State TB Officers details
35Contractual Em
ployees details 6901
Non-RN
TCP Health Establishm
ents registered64,073
Non-RN
TCP Patients registered56,087
Culture & D
rug Resistant Labs Patients registered20995
Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Patients registered
1979
imp
lem
en
tatio
n c
ha
llen
ge
s M
any of the PHCs in the country do not have adequate ICT infrastructure like com
puter, internet connectivity and D
ata Entry Operator. Also intermittent electricity supply ham
pers the data entry and use of Nikshay. Also
patient treatment cards need to be brought to TU/Block level or even at district level in certain areas for data
entry. Slow internet / w
eb connectivity in some places and incom
plete treatment cards at m
any places also slow
s down the process.
How
ever, support from N
RHM
in terms of ICT infrastructure and data entry operators has significantly contributed
to use of Nikshay softw
are across the country.
Chapter 4: TB surveillance in India w
ith Nikshay
TB Annual Report47
na
tion
al e
-Go
vern
an
ce
aw
ard
N
IKSHAY
was
honored w
ith N
ational e-G
overnance Aw
ard (G
old) 2013-14
during the
National
Conference on
e-Governance held at Kochi on 30-31
January, 2014 under category Sectoral Aw
ard – Healthcare. These aw
ards are organized by M
inistry of Administrative
Reforms,
Grievence
Redressal and
Pensions in collaboration with D
epartment
of IT,
Ministry
of Com
munication
and Inform
ation Technology, Governm
ent of India.
The award w
as given by Sh Nikhil Kum
ar, H
on’ble Governor of Kerala, Sh V. N
arayanasamy, H
on’ble Minister for State of Personnel, Public G
rievances and Pensions. The gold aw
ard was received by officials from
Central TB Division and N
IC.
48 4.2
tB
no
tific
atio
n
Background: India’s N
ational TB Control programm
e provides quality assured diagnostic and treatment
services to all the TB patients including necessary supportive mechanism
s for ensuring treatment adherence
and completion. H
owever these services cannot be m
ade available to large number of patients availing services
from private sector, as they are not currently reported to the program
me. The N
ational Programm
e is unable to support TB patients and facilitate effective treatm
ent as there is no information on TB and M
/XDR TB diagnosis
and treatment in private sector and unable to m
onitor and act for this looming epidem
ic. The country has a huge private sector and it is grow
ing at enormous pace. Private sector predom
inates in health care and TB treatm
ent. Extremely large quantities of anti-TB drugs are sold in the private sector. Poor prescribing practices
among private providers w
ith inappropriate and inadequate regimens and unsupervised treatm
ent continues in private sector w
ithout supporting patient for ensuring treatment adherence and com
pletion with unrestricted
access to first and second line TB drugs without prescription. H
igh cost of TB and M/XD
R TB drugs for privately treated patients is leading to further poverty and treatm
ent interruptions.
A large number of patients are not benefitted w
ith programm
e services and this leads to non adherence, incom
plete, inadequate treatment leading to M
/XDR TB, m
itigating all the efforts of the programm
e to prevent em
ergence and spread of drug resistance. If the TB patients diagnosed and treated under private sector are reported to public health authorities, the m
echanisms available under the program
me can be extended to these
patients to ensure treatment adherence and com
pletion. The impending epidem
ic of M/XD
R TB can only be prevented to a large extent by this intervention.
To curb this situation, Govt of India declared Tuberculosis a notifiable disease on 7th M
ay 2012 with the follow
ing objectives.
ob
jec
tives
1. To have establish Tuberculosis surveillance system
in the country
2. To extend m
echanisms of TB treatm
ent adherence and contact tracing to patients treated in private sector
3. To ensure proper TB diagnosis and case m
anagement and further accelerate reduction of TB transm
ission
4. To m
itigate the impeding D
rug resistant TB epidemic in the country
imp
lem
en
tatio
n to
ols &
me
tho
ds
For the purpose of notification, the contact details of the nodal officer at district level and the reporting formats
are available on the website w
ww.tbcindia.nic.in. All the health establishm
ents throughout the country in public as w
ell as private and non governmental sector are expected to notify TB cases.
For the purpose of notification the definition of TB cases is as below
:
yM
icrobiologically-confirmed TB case – Patient diagnosed w
ith at least one clinical specimen positive for
acid fast bacilli, or Culture-positive for Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, or RNTCP-approved Rapid D
iagnostic m
olecular test positive for tuberculosis.
OR yClinical TB case – Patient diagnosed clinically as tuberculosis, w
ithout microbiologic confirm
ation and initiated on anti-TB drugs.
List of RN
TCP endorsed TB diagnostics are as below
:
Smear M
icroscopy (for AFB):
�Sputum
smear stained w
ith Zeil-Nelson Staining or
�Fluorescence stains and exam
ined under direct or indirect microscopy w
ith or without LED
.
Chapter 4: TB surveillance in India w
ith Nikshay
TB Annual Report49
Culture:
�Solid(Low
enstein Jansen) media or
�Liquid m
edia (Middle Brook) using m
anual, semi-autom
atic or automatic m
achines e.g. Bactec, MG
IT etc.
Rapid diagnostic m
olecular test:
�Conventional PCR based Line Probe Assay for M
TB complex or
�Real-tim
e PCR based Nucleic Acid Am
plification Test (NAAT) for M
TB complex e.g. G
eneXpert
Sputum Sm
ear Microscopy (for AFB): Sputum
smear stained w
ith Zeil-Nelson Staining or Fluorescence stains
and examined under direct or indirect m
icroscopy.
Sputum Culture: Sputum
culture on solid (Lowenstein Jansen) m
edia or liquid media (M
iddle Brook) using m
anual, semi-autom
atic or automatic m
achines e.g. Bactec, MG
IT etc.
Rapid diagnostic molecular test: Line Probe Assay for M
TB or Nucleic Acid Am
plification Test (CB-NAAT)
op
tion
s of n
otifi
ca
tion
mo
da
lities
Option of registration and login for private facilities for TB notification indirectly in Nikshay w
ill be made available
by June 2014.
Ch
alle
ng
es
Sensitization of huge number of private health care providers especially w
ith inadequate human resources is
a big challenge. Also, following up notified cases as a public health responsibility in a m
anner acceptable to patients and the com
munity is another challenge. M
anaging huge information at different levels and creating
a national TB register and ensuring deduplication for converting the information in burden statem
ent is also challenging.
How
ever, with support of various partners like IM
A & CBCI, notification is progressing.
TB N
otification using Nikshay
TB N
otification (using mobile app)
50 tB
no
tific
atio
n sta
tus
With increasing num
ber of health facilities registered notification of TB cases also increased many fold. Till now,
>41,000 TB cases have been notified by private sector in addition to ~5,000 cases notified by public sector being treated outside RN
TCP. Though this is still the beginning and case based surveillance with increasingly
complete notification by all health facilities across the country w
ill be the milestone for RN
TCP in the coming
years.
With efforts for sensitization of program
me officials &
staff and then subsequently to private sector, the number
of private health facilities registered in Nikshay for TB notification increased m
any fold in 2013 as compared to
2012. A total of >57,000 private health facilities are registered till now.
Chapter 4: TB surveillance in India w
ith Nikshay
TB Annual Report51
Every quarter, Central TB Division receives aggregate case-finding,
programm
e m
anagement,
sputum
conversion, and
treatment
outcome inform
ation for patients registered under the programm
e from
over 2,700 Tuberculosis Units nationwide. RN
TCP follows the
global method of cohort analysis for describing case finding and
treatment outcom
es. Timely data collection and dissem
ination are hallm
arks of the RNTCP surveillance and data m
anagement system
s. The data from
the quarterly reports are analyzed and disseminated in
the public domain as quarterly perform
ance reports before the end of the subsequent quarter and as an annual report. For the purpose of describing the notification in this section, the data from
the reports of the 4 quarters in a calendar year have been added and is presented in the form
of annual data. Though the programm
e was form
ally initiated in the year 1997 and the quarterly reporting m
echanism
was in place since inception, the data presented below
extend from
the year 1999, when approxim
ately about 10% of the country’s
population was covered onw
ards. The rapid pace of DOTS expansion
over the past decade complicates longitudinal data analysis in a
number of w
ays. District-by-district scale-up of RN
TCP services over several years changes the denom
inator of population covered every quarter. Basic dem
ographic characteristics of implem
enting districts differed over the expansion years, as w
ell as the expected evolution of services and TB epidem
iology in areas implem
enting RNTCP over
longer time periods.
For the purposes of this analysis, districts implem
enting RNTCP less
than one year during the initial year of implem
entation were attributed
to cover a population proportionate to the number of days in the first
year that services were available in each district. The rates presented
in this section are all per 100,000 populations after adjusting for the
Ch
ap
te
r 5
: r
nt
Cp
p
er
Fo
rM
an
Ce
: n
ot
iFiC
at
ion
a
nD
tr
ea
tM
en
t
ou
tC
oM
e t
re
nD
s
52 number of days of im
plementation by individual districts till year 2006. Also the population of the districts is
based on 2001 census and 2011 Census India for these two years and estim
ated for the rest of the years based on these tw
o Censuses. Though the population in the tables is complete population of services covered as on
31st Decem
ber of that year.
sp
utu
m M
icro
sco
py s
ervic
es a
nd
tB
su
spe
ct e
xa
min
atio
nOver the 13 year analysis period, the population covered increased from
139 million to 1.23 billion populations
(Table 1). Smear m
icroscopy services are reported independently of case notification results. As expected from
service expansion, the absolute number of TB suspects exam
ined by smear m
icroscopy annually has increased m
anifold, from 0.96 m
illion to 7.8 million. Over the sam
e time period, the rate of TB suspect exam
ination increased by 50%
, from 421 per 100,000 population covered by RN
TCP services to 651 per 100,000 population in 2013. Sim
ilarly, the rate of sputum sm
ear positive cases diagnosed by microscopy has increased by 20%
, from
65 to 79 per 100,000 population by the year 2008, remained at that level for four years and has started
decreasing to 74 per 100,000 in year 2013 [Figure 1]. The average number of suspects exam
ined for every sputum
smear positive case diagnosed has gradually increased at the rate of2%
per year, from 2001 to 2013,
the number of suspects exam
ined per smear positive case diagnosed has increased by 36%
from 6.4 to 8.7
suspects (Figure 2) still suggesting that yield is progressively decreasing per unit case finding activity. Total and sputum
smear positive case notification is also show
n in Table 1. An average difference of 14% [Range 9–15%
] w
as observed between the rate of sputum
-positive cases diagnosed and the sputum-positive case notification
rate. This is one of the challenge programm
e will have to address in com
ing quarters, for which registration of
each TB case at diagnosis would be first step to bring in m
ore accountability to treat each diagnosed cases in the country.
no
tific
atio
n r
ate
s of t
B C
ase
sOverall, case notification has increased over the 13 year analysis period, and the notification rates of m
ost types of TB cases has steadily increased or rem
ained stable, with the exceptions of new
smear-negative (Table 2 and
Figure 3) and “treatment after default” later suggesting overall im
provement in program
me though indirectly
(Table 2 and Figure 4). The total case notification rate has increased from 101 cases per 100,000 population in
1999 to 139 per 100,000 population in 2004, remained near 130 till 2009 and started decreasing since 2010
stooping to 113 per 100,000 population in 2013 (Table 1). The NSP case notification rate has increased from
39 cases per 100,000 population in 1999 to 53 per 100,000 population in the year 2008, and has rem
ained at around 53/100,000 till 2011 but has decreased to 50 per 100,000 population in year 2013. The N
SN
notification rates have shown a decreasing trend from
45 per 100,000 population in 2004 to 23 per 100,000 population in 2013 (Table 2 and Figure 3), and continues to fall. Som
e of the arguments for this are increased
efforts to get the sputum exam
ined and bacilli demonstrated w
ith increasing availability and application of quality sputum
smear m
icroscopy services expanded under the programm
e.
The notification rate of re-treatment cases has increased by 40%
over first few years, from
18 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 26 per 100,000 population in 2008, but has started show
ing decline to 22 per 10000 population by 2013. The increase in retreatm
ent notification rates appears to be driven largely by increases in the notification rates of the ‘relapse’ and ‘others’ types of re-treatm
ent cases. The ‘re-treatment others’
notification rate has almost doubled from
4 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 8 per 100,000 population by the year 2008 and continues to at that level in 2013. The notification rate of failure-type re-treatm
ent cases has rem
ained almost stable from
2002 to 2010at the rate of 2 cases per 100,000 population. But after that, decreasing trend is evident w
ith expansion of PMDT services across the country w
ith DST being offered earlier
to high risk patients. The “Treatment after default” notification rates have declined from
10/100,000 population in 2001 to 5/100,000 population in 2011 (Table 2 and Figure 4).
Chapter 5: RN
TCP performance: notification and Treatm
ent Outcom
e trends
TB Annual Report53
Table 1: TB Case finding activities and notification rates (1999 - 2013)
Year Relapse Failure Treatment After Default Total Smear positive Re-treatmentSuccess Death Failure Default Success Death Failure Default Success Death Failure Default Success Death Failure Default
Grand Total 12471 8121514 163 2% 928190 9 4% 74 79 1416014 114 63 30 21 27 17 3.1
1. Projected population based on census population of 2011 is used for calculation of case-detection rate. 1 lakh = 100,000 population
2. Smear positive patients diagnosed include new smear positive cases and smear positive retreatment cases, data from DMCs
3. Total patients registered for treatment includes new sputum smear positive cases, new smear negative cases, new EP cases, new others, relapse, failure, TAD and retreatment others
TB Annual Report69
Performance of RNTCP: Case finding (2013), Smear Conversion (4q12-3q13), quality of DOTS
State
No (%) of pediatric
cases out of all New cases
3 month conversion
rate of new smear
positive patients
3 month conversion
rate of retreatment
patients
No (%) of all Smear Positive cases started RNTCP DOTS
within 7 days of diagnosis
No (%) of all Smear Positive
cases registered within one month of starting RNTCP DOTS treatment
* Data from Daman-Diu & Dadra Nagar Haveli is included in Gujarat; Data from Lakshadweep is included in Kerala# These numbers are NOT from the same cohort of patients from which MDR diagnosed are reported, but rather from treatment initiation registers only. The current PMDT information system does not allow for cohort-based reporting of MDR TB
suspects, hence this should not yet be taken as a proportion of MDR TB diagnosed and used as an indicator for efficiency of initiation on treatment. Future versions of the PMDT reporting system will be based on cohorts of patients tested in laboratories, and will be used for monitoring of timeliness and efficiency of diagnosis and initiation on treatment
^ numerator includes smear negative retreatment cases registered in the district