Mandatory Notification of TB Diagnosis

TB is a notifiable disease in India, and TB notification has been made mandatory at the point of diagnosis since May 2012. This means that when a case of TB is diagnosed and/or put on treatment it is to be reported to the  NTEP.

• Every healthcare provider, i.e., clinical establishments run or managed by the Government (including local authorities), private or NGO sectors and/or individual practitioners, need to notify diagnosed or treated TB patient’s. 
• Reporting is to be done on the online reporting system called Nikshay and should include details of patient identification, and TB diagnosis.
• This, apart from enabling essential public health actions such as Treatment initiation, and Contact Tracing, chemoprophylaxis, but also enables provisions of Direct beneficiary transfer for Nikshay Poshan Yojana

Points to Note:

As per MCI code of ethics a registered medical practitioner giving incorrect information on his name and authority about notification amounts to misconduct and such a medical practitioner is liable for deregistration. It is the duty of the registered medical to divulge this information to the authorized notification official as regards communicable and notifiable diseases. 

Resources

• TB Notification Letter from GoI, 7 May 2012.
• TB Notification Amendment, 21 July 2015, MoHFW.