Wadia’s enhanced TB care

Parel’s Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children will soon host "the country’s first centre of excellence for treating children suffering from drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB),” reported the Mumbai Mirror (MM) on February 9, 2018.The project will be a public-partnership, and also involves the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC). Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, chief operating officer of the Hospital told MM that it (already) had a TB-detection lab, six dedicated doctors, trained paramedics and four isolated beds. "Our doctors are already treating many drug-resistant pediatric cases. Under the new project, more children will get good care,” she said.
The Hospital will expand its facilities with "a team of experts (who) will diagnose and treat young patients of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains.” The doctors will have access to better detection facilities, as compared to those found at public hospitals in the city. Currently, children suspected to be suffering from the two strains of TB are screened at the ward level and referred to other local hospitals. If required, the patients are shifted to Sewree Tuberculosis Hospital. Once the new facility is set up, children and their parents will not have to make trips to different places for diagnosis, medication and follow-up care. The BMC will send all suspected pediatric cases to the Hospital and pay for the tests. The doctors at Wadia will prescribe drugs to be provided by the municipal body.
India has the highest number of TB patients in the world and cases of children are estimated to be around 10% of the affected. The MM report notes that almost 90% of Bombay’s TB patients are not well-off and cannot afford to skip work for long. Breaks in treatment and poor nutrition make them vulnerable to developing drug resistance. "So far (since the inception of a TB clinic in 2007), we have registered 3,200 pediatric patients. Of these, 320 have drug resistant TB. We see 15 new cases every week,” Dr Ira Shah, specialist at the Hospital told MM.