Dimapur, March 22 (EMN): With the ambitious goal of eliminating Tuberculosis (TB) by 2025, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has made it known that non-notification of TB cases by clinical establishment, pharmacies, chemists, and druggists as a criminal offence.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued this in a gazetted notification dated March 16, New Delhi.
In order to ensure proper diagnosis of Tuberculosis and its management in patients, their contacts and to reduce the transmission of the disease, and to further address the problems of emergence and spread of drug resistant TB, it is essential to collect complete information of all TB patients. There are also specific formats for reporting of these cases, which are being circulated to all concerned. The cases are to be notified to the local public authority of the state i.e, the State TB Officer and District TB Officers, who would further follow up with the patients notified.
According to the publication, it was mentioned that “The clinical establishments, pharmacy, chemist and druggist, failing to notify a tuberculosis patient to the nodal officer and local public authority health staff of general health system or urban local bodies and not taking appropriate public health action on receiving tuberculosis patient notification would attract the provisions of sections 269 and 270 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) as the case maybe.”
Section 269 covers negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life and says “whoever unlawfully or negligently does not act which is and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months or with fine, or with both.”
Section 270 covers malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life and state that violators “shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.”
In this regards, the Revised National TB Control Programme, Nagaland, has earnestly appealed to all the private health care establishments, private practitioners, pharmacies, and druggists etc to extend their support to the initiatives so that every TB patient not only receives the due treatment and facilities wherever the patient wishes to whether in private or public facilities but that every patient is notified.
