Seminor on Tuberculosis
March 15, 2009
A Seminar was conducted by the Chest Foundation of India at Breeze Hotel.
The speakers included Dr. Rajeshwari Ramachandran, former deputy director, senior grade, Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai, who spoke on Current issues in diagnosis and management of TB from a public health point of view, “Sputum test is simpler and cheaper then X-Ray, but for some strange reason, it does not have the same status” she said.
Dr Ram Gopalakrishnan, Senior consultant physician, infectious disease and tropical medicine, Apollo Hospitals, also said that the sputum test was under-utilised. “It should be the first test that should be done”. Relying on other methods to detect tuberculosis of the lungs often led to misdiagnosis and over-treatment or under-treatment.
Dr. Raj B Singh, Chief Respiratory Physician, the Chest centre, said there was no regulatory mechanism to ensure that the private practitioners followed guidelines, such as performing the sputum test for suspected TB of the lungs.
Dr. Nalini Krishnan, director-projects, Resource Group for Education and Advocacy for Community Health, said Private practitioners need to be roped in to control the spread of tuberculosis. The community had to get involved too, as tuberculosis did not affect a single patient but the whole community.
Dr. Sowmya spoke on Managing TB in children and Dr. P Senthil spoke on recent developments in the diagnosis of TB. This was also followed by a panel discussion.