Nearly four-fifths (80.4%) of chemists who participated in our study refused to accept patient cards or did not report TB patients at the first visit. However, there has been a subsequent improvement in reporting by chemists observed by researchers in the field, suggesting an improvement in awareness over time. Regardless, the response from pharmacies outside the state`s tertiary health care facilities has been worse. This may be due to the perception of a lack of supervision in pharmacies operating outside the vicinity of public health facilities and insufficient awareness. These findings suggest that while it is possible to improve chemists` awareness, leading to a productive public-private partnership to improve reporting, non-compliance with legal guidelines for universal TB reporting is pervasive. Especially in pharmacies that perceive a lack of oversight and enforcement of these government policies. The Drug Control Authority was extended to the Telangana region after the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, when four drug inspectors were appointed and the implementation of the Medicines and Cosmetics Act was extended to this region. Project name:XLN Xtended Licensing & LaboratoryNode Applicant: Food and Drugs Control Administration Implementing Agency: Food and Drugs Control Administration About the project: XLN- Xtended Licensing & LaboratoryNode, is a web-based IT solution and an innovative, proven, repeatable, scalable and user-friendly solution to add value to FDCA regulatory services, Gujaratto G2G, G2B and G2C. XLN has been replicated in six other states, and six more states are awaiting it. Website: xlnfda.guj.nic.in/login.aspx goal: to provide better, faster, transparent and hassle-free services to citizens, businesses and ministries. Target group: district offices, laboratory, pharmacy board, CMSO, distributors, retailers and wholesalers, FDCA headquarters, etc.
Strengths: XLN limits pharmacists to working in a single pharmacy and prevents illegal multiple registrations. It ensures a quick and effective recall of non-standard quality medicines through mass news. It also provides publicly available information on dealers, NSQ drugs, blood banks, etc. Achievements: The solution resulted in better planning and division of drug inspectors` duties through various comprehensive XLN alerts. There are SMS notifications to all NSQ drug distributors, better market recall and public health protection. So far, the solution has won two national awards and one state-level award. Key challenges: Challenges such as lack of materials, which they overcame by extending working hours and other government agencies, also helped. Of the 169 pharmacies that accepted patient cards, 61 (36.1%) responded by returning completed patient cards, while 108 (63.9%) did not return a single patient card. 2Office of the WHO Representative in India, New Delhi, India This study found that 581 (66.6%) prescriptions received by pharmacists came from public hospitals. However, pharmacists did not refer pharmacists directly to DOTS in cases where prescriptions came from the private sector. Nevertheless, 209 (24%) of patients who visited informal or private institutions were able to be monitored and notified via patient cards collected by pharmacists. Regulated and unregulated private retail pharmacies, also known as pharmacies, pharmacies or pharmacies, are often the preferred first point of contact for common health issues in the general population due to their ease of access and lack of wait times.
The current operational research study was conducted to assess the feasibility of collecting data from suspected TB or patients who purchase TB drugs from private pharmacies, allowing uncovered TB cases to be incorporated into the DOTS fold. This precursor approach to TB reporting resulted in an additional 871 TB cases during the 9-month follow-up. The majority of reported TB cases were from younger age groups and males were more affected than females, consistent with global and national trends. [1] Our study also found that two-thirds of TB prescriptions came from government health care settings, primarily tertiary ones. This shows that a significant proportion of patients have purchased TB drugs from private pharmacies and have not opted for DOTS, even though TB treatment has been diagnosed and initiated in the public health sector. This could be due to several reasons, including patient preference and perceived convenience, some clinical departments that prescribe non-DOTS therapies, and Social Security patients who have the option to reimburse medical purchases. A total of 871 TB patients were reported by pharmacists, of whom 486 (55.8%) were men and 385 (44.2%) were women. Younger age groups accounted for the majority of these cases, with 198 (37.5%) aged 21-30 years and 122 (23.1%) aged 11-20 years [Figure 2]. Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India The prospective study was conducted from July 2017 to March 2018. Paper-based TB reporting and online self-reporting were the modus operandi used for collaboration with chemists. A team of paramedics was deployed to collect data from pharmacists who had opted for paper-based reporting.
Self-notification via the online mode was carried out via the RNTCP`s NIKSHAY online reporting platform. A total of 330 pharmacies in central, New Delhi and East Delhi were included in this study. Of these 330 pharmacies, 169 (51.2%) accepted the patient advice card to fill in patient data, while the remaining 161 (48.8%) did not accept the cards. Pharmacists cited the following reasons for not accepting patient cards: lack of medications54 (33.5%), too busy to meet 30 (18.1%), and store closures or relocations in Zone 14 (5.6%), while 58 (36%) pharmacies did not respond. A list of pharmacies was obtained from the website of the Department of Drug Control (DCD), Delhi, India. This is reflected in the information provided by the DCD office, Karkardooma, Delhi. This list included a total of five districts with a total of 642 pharmacies. [14] Pharmacies to be included in the study were selected in the Central Delhi region, which includes Central Delhi district (Paharganj, Daryaganj, Karol Bagh, etc.) and the adjacent New Delhi district (Connaught Place, etc.) and East Delhi district (Laxmi Nagar). Finally, a total of 330 pharmacies, 108 in New Delhi, 122 in central Delhi and 100 in East Delhi, were registered to participate in this research study. The selection was based on probability proportional to the size of the pharmacy list. Pharmacists` adherence improved during subsequent field visits by researchers [Figure 3]. By the end of the six visits, 28 (46%) of the 61 pharmacies that were finally successfully sensitized had begun returning folio cards with completed patient records.
In the capital, Delhi, more than 12,000 pharmacists are registered to meet the health needs of patients. A study was conducted to improve TB notification rates as designed by the revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). The TB mission assessed the feasibility of collecting data from TB patients purchasing TB drugs at licensing level (pharmacists and pharmacy owners) in central Delhi. 5Delhi State TB Programme, State TB Cell, Delhi, India Data collection was conducted at the final stage of the study by two well-trained field researchers who visited selected retailers [Figure 1]. A total of 10 retailers per day were visited to ensure at least one weekly visit to each retailer. At each visit, patient information was collected in the left folio of the patient advice card and shared with the Senior Treatment Supervisor (STS), RNTCP in the sub-district TB department. The TSE compared the details with the reporting patient`s data from the TB laboratory registry. Unreported cases were followed by home visits by STS. The cases were reported via NIKSHAY of DTO LN Hospital. Checklist for issuing the registration certificate in Form MD-42 The first step in the study was the development of a structured patient advice card (folio), which was validated after several expert discussions.
This card consisted of two sections separated by a perforation that could be removed; The folio on the left consisted of the patient`s data and a telephone number kept by the pharmacist. The folio was issued to the following individuals: (i) TB suspects who have taken prescription TB drugs, and (ii) people suspected of TB symptoms. This was done with the aim of convincing suspected TB cases to undergo sputum microscopy at a nearby RNTCP (designated microscopy centre) diagnostic centre. 1TB Programme Officer, Chest Clinic, Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India Honorary Minister of Finance, Health, Medicine and Family Welfare Of the 330 chemists educated, 871 TB reports were received during the study. Younger age groups accounted for the majority of these cases, with 198 (37.5%) aged 21-30 years and 122 (23.1%) aged 11-20 years. By the end of the six visits, 28 (46%) of the 61 pharmacies that were finally successfully sensitized had begun returning folio cards with completed patient records.