Dehradun: A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, presented during the Uttarakhand assembly session, has exposed serious deficiencies in the TB Sanatorium in Nainital, painting a grim picture of tuberculosis care in the state.
One of the most pressing concerns highlighted by auditors was the absence of an effective infection control system, despite TB being a highly communicable disease. The report noted that no Hospital Infection Control Committee existed at the facility. Additionally, it was found that from 2017 to 2021, state failed to meet its TB detection and cure targets, and only in 2022 did it perform well. In six years, the state used only 59 per cent of the total approved funds for TB patients. Uttarakhand had some 21,819 TB patients in 2022, as per the latest report.
The 100-year-old TB Sanatorium in Bhowali is severely under-equipped, with just 72 functional beds against a sanctioned 378. While an X-ray machine was found working, the CT scan machine had been non-functional since 2010 due to the absence of a technician. However, auditors noted that there was no shortage of TB medicines at the facility.
The report flagged the absence of basic amenities like wheelchairs and ramps for physically challenged patients, no ambulance service, and no in-house blood testing facility. Additionally, the hospital failed to follow proper biomedical waste segregation protocols, lacking colour-coded bins at waste generation points.
While the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme lays special emphasis on providing a nutritive, healthy, fresh diet, auditors highlighted in the report that there was “no mechanism to check the quantity and quality of food being provided to the TB patients.” The facility also struggled with a shortage of medical staff. Against a sanctioned strength of 11 doctors, only five regular doctors and four contractual doctors were available. Similarly, 13 nurses worked instead of the sanctioned 32, while only six paramedical staff were deployed out of the required nine.
