The Indian Oil Corporation Limited, a public sector undertaking, will equip government healthcare facilities in the State as part of the national tuberculosis elimination programme.
As part of its corporate social responsibility efforts, the company will provide rapid molecular diagnostic equipment worth ₹27.96 crore. An agreement to that effect was signed on Wednesday. Annually, the State contributes 4% of the county’s TB burden. In 2023, the State identified 96,777 TB cases by testing around 20 lakh sputum samples, health department officials said.
Among them 2,500 persons were identified as having drug resistant TB. Nearly 3,93,364 sputum samples were tested through rapid molecular testing equipment, they added. The State’s plans to eliminate TB required it to increase the capacity of identifying drug sensitive and drug resistant TB cases for which it needed an additional fleet of the RMT equipment.
The machines supplied by the IOCL will be used as point of care testing machines at various government healthcare facilities. Each equipment costs ₹14.56 lakh. According to the Health department, the State had increased the testing by 40% as compared to 2022 and the additional equipment would build its capacity to test more samples.
Health Minister Ma. Subramanian, who was present at the event, said 272 primary health centres will benefit from the additional equipment.
COVID-19 infection
Of the 26 samples that were tested, 23 were found to have the JN.1.1 strain of COVID-19 infection, Mr. Subramanian said. According to him, the State had not reported clusters of COVID-19 infection and the government was in touch with the doctors at the National University of Singapore.
The Union Health Ministry was of the opinion that further booster vaccine doses are not necessary at present, he informed. However, vulnerable people, including the elderly, those with suppressed immune system and pregnant women must wear masks and wash their hands frequently. They must also avoid crowded places, he said and urged people to not self-medicate or buy medicines without prescription.
