By Shalini Bhardwaj

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 6 (ANI): To eliminate Tuberculosis (TB) from the Siddharth Nagar district and other districts in Uttar Pradesh, AI enabled Handheld Xray machines are playing critical role on accelerating India's progress towards ending TB by providing screening in vulnerable areas.

These Handheld X-ray machines are used by the districts in camps and Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.

According to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Rajat Kumar Chaurasia, 'With the help of these portable X-ray machines we do at least 150 tests in a day though it has capacity for more than 250 examinations in a day within 5 seconds.'

'If we found signs of TB disease in X-ray then we send patient for the another testing i.e NAAT that assures through sputum in just 40 minutes - 1 hour and if it results positive then it's a notified case and we start the treatment of patient immediately,' he said.

Speaking on the accuracy of Handheld X-ray machine tests, Dr Chaurasia said, 'The accuracy of this test is 90 percent, this machine is very useful for us to reach the target of elimination of TB. Earlier patient used to visit at X-ray centre but now we take these machines to the patients that reduces the time.'

According to the National TB Prevalence Survey, nearly 43 per cent of TB cases would have been missed if chest Xray was not included.

A nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) is diagnostic test which is used for the Tuberculosis detection is also playing crucial role in diagnosis of TB in vulnerable population. The sputum sample is collected and tested.

'This helps in detection of Tuberculosis in patients early,' said Dr Rajat Chaurasia.

The introduction of these diagnostics has reduced delays in detection and improved accuracy.

The WHO'S Global TB Report 2024 noted the tremendous progress made by India in improving case detection. (ANI)