MSF hands over management of MDMC to RNTCP
MON, MARCH 24 (MExN): Médecins sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders (MSF), which has been working with the Nagaland Department of Health & Family Welfare (DoH&FW) since 2010, stated that “TB is a bigger problem than expected.”
On March 24, MSF formally handed back the management responsibility for Mon Designated Microscopy Centre (MDMC) and the Chest Ward to Nagaland Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP).
MSF started working actively with RNCTP on World TB day 2012, after seeing that the numbers collected showed a significant under-detection of TB in the hospital.
A press note from the MSF stated that due to this collaboration, in 2013, Mon was the second district in terms of Suspected TB cases examined with 2831, just after Dimapur. It added that the numbers seen are exceeding the estimates for the entire district, with a case detection rate for 2013 of 109%.
Beatrice Barbot, MSF Field Coordinator, said, “We have achieved so much but there are still some challenges ahead both at national and local level.” She stated that the availability of TB drugs is still a problem, especially the paediatric ones, “which is a key aspect to stop resistance.” “Locally the counselling position is not present in the RNCTP protocol for rural setting such as Mon but we have seen how this position is key to ensure a low default rate and stop resistance together with the increased presence of DOT providers,” she added. Barbot called for “involvement in the community that passes not only by becoming a DOT provider but also by accepting and not discriminating TB patients.”
