108 people died of TB in Mizoram in 2023

At least 108 people have died of Tuberculosis in Mizoram in 2023, health department officials said on Tuesday. Officials said that blood samples of 17,432 people suspected to be infected with TB have been tested during January to December last year, of which 2,272 have been found suffering from TB. Of the 2,272 TB patients, 164 were diagnosed with Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB), they said. 86 per cent of the infected patients have been successfully treated,  while 108 people died of the disease, officials said.In the first quarterly review of the national TB elimination programme held on Tuesday, it was mentioned that a total of 595 people have been diagnosed with TB from 3,761 samples tested between January and March this year.

Of the 595 TB patients, 38 were diagnosed with  MDR-TB and 57 people were found suffering from both TB and HIV positive, the meeting said. 6  per cent of the infected patients are diabetics, while 33 per cent use tobacco and 16 per cent are alcoholic, it said. During January to March this year, Aizawl district reported the highest TB cases at 433, followed by Kolasib district (46) and Lunglei district (34), it said. West Mizoram’s Mamit district recorded the least TB cases at 5. Officials also said that in Mizoram only 187 people have registered to adopt TB patients or donate for  them through online platform “Nikshay” under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan.

The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan was launched nationwide by President Droupadi Murmu in September 2022.It is a community programme to augment community involvement in meeting India’s commitment to end TB by 2025 ahead of the global target of 2030, to provide additional patient support to improve treatment outcomes of TB patients and to leverage Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.