Meerut: In order to ensure that cases of Tuberculosis (TB) are recorded in real-time basis in Meerut, the members of Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP), a state government-run TB control programme, have been equipped with android devices to update status of the patients online.Meerut has got 58 android tablets where 38 of them were distributed in the first phase to a batch of treatment and laboratory supervisors of the RNTCP on Friday. During the event, they were also given training on how to handle them.“As many as 38 android tablets were given by Meerut chief medical officer to the treatment and laboratory supervisors. These devices will be used to record number of TB cases and update them on government portal Nikshay. Earlier, the data used to get updated only at the end of the month, now they will be updated regularly,” said Dr MS Fauzdar, Meerut district tuberculosis officer.Fauzdar added that once the data gets updated, the patient or the tuberculosis department official will get a call from outbound call centres to get their feedback about the treatment being administered to them.“This will increase the transparency in the system and will keep us updated about any gaps in the programme that we need to fill in,” he said.In 2012, the government had declared TB a notifiable disease. However, only 19 lakh new patients out of 28 lakh have been notified till date. The government has made it compulsory for the pharmacists and medical store owners to not only maintain a register of the sale of 13 Schedule H-1 drugs – which are taken by TB patients – but also inform the district tuberculosis officer and the chief medical officer every month about the drugs sold.

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