Times of India: Mumbai: Wednesday, 7 August 2024.
More than 80 patients
undergoing treatment for tuberculosis at the BMC-run Sewri TB Hospital went
absconding from the premises in the past four years, shows data gathered using
the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Despite the availability of newer medicines,
shorter treatment regimens and more beds for TB patients, the issue of
“patients running away” continues to plague the health system.
Civic officials said the patients who go absconding are almost always “non-infectious” and run away due to the long stay in hospital. The city registered 63,575 TB cases in 2023, a slight drop from 65,747 cases in 2022. Of these patients, 4,793 in 2023 and 5,698 in 2022 had drug-resistant forms of TB that require around 18 months of treatment and long hospital stay.
It’s these medical factors, combined with the social issue of TB patients being abandoned by families, which at times lead to patients running away. “There are about 25 patients, including five women, in the TB hospital who have not gone home for the past five years,” said a civic doctor. Many such patients become restless and run away from the hospital by hoodwinking security guards.
Among the 83 patients who ran away between 2021 and May this year, 78 are males and five females. “The number of patients running away from the hospital is increasing every year,” said Chetan Kothari who got the information under RTI from BMC’s public health department.
BMC executive health officer Dr Daksha Shah said these patients are non-infectious. “At times, patients are told to stay on for a couple of weeks more for observation, but they don’t want to and seek to leave. Such patients are marked as ‘discharge against medical advice’ (DAMA),” she said. There have been roughly 1,574 patients who have sought DAMA between 2021 and May this year, Kothari's RTI reply stated.
BMC officials said a police complaint is filed over their disappearance. At times, BMC health workers visit the patient’s last-known address to look for them. Incidentally, the hospital has not registered suicides since 2021. “We have counsellors as well as psychiatrists who look after patients’ mental health,” said Dr Shah.
Civic officials said the patients who go absconding are almost always “non-infectious” and run away due to the long stay in hospital. The city registered 63,575 TB cases in 2023, a slight drop from 65,747 cases in 2022. Of these patients, 4,793 in 2023 and 5,698 in 2022 had drug-resistant forms of TB that require around 18 months of treatment and long hospital stay.
It’s these medical factors, combined with the social issue of TB patients being abandoned by families, which at times lead to patients running away. “There are about 25 patients, including five women, in the TB hospital who have not gone home for the past five years,” said a civic doctor. Many such patients become restless and run away from the hospital by hoodwinking security guards.
Among the 83 patients who ran away between 2021 and May this year, 78 are males and five females. “The number of patients running away from the hospital is increasing every year,” said Chetan Kothari who got the information under RTI from BMC’s public health department.
BMC executive health officer Dr Daksha Shah said these patients are non-infectious. “At times, patients are told to stay on for a couple of weeks more for observation, but they don’t want to and seek to leave. Such patients are marked as ‘discharge against medical advice’ (DAMA),” she said. There have been roughly 1,574 patients who have sought DAMA between 2021 and May this year, Kothari's RTI reply stated.
BMC officials said a police complaint is filed over their disappearance. At times, BMC health workers visit the patient’s last-known address to look for them. Incidentally, the hospital has not registered suicides since 2021. “We have counsellors as well as psychiatrists who look after patients’ mental health,” said Dr Shah.
.JPG)
.JPG)
