Meerut: PL Sharma District Hospital got its first  CB-NAAT (Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) machine for testing Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) tuberculosis on World Tuberculosis Day;  the districts first too.

All earlier cases were being sent to Agra for diagnosis which took a month coming as against the present scenario, where the result would be available to the patient within two hours.

38 new districts were given this machine on the  World TB Day; earlier only six districts owned it.

At the inauguration which was attended by Shahid Manzoor, this Tuesday, Dr. MS Faujdar, district tuberculosis officer, told TOI, "The CB-NAAT machine will not only confirm a suspected case of tuberculosis, it can also identify the gene which might have become drug resistant in case of MDR tuberculosis. Earlier, we had to send the samples to Agra - which is already overburdened with the load of many districts - due to which the report used to take at least a month's time to arrive. But now, this problem can be dealt with as reports can be sought in two hours."

Speaking in detail about the facilities the machine would provide Dr. MS Faujdar, district tuberculosis officer, said, "The CB-NAAT machine will not only confirm a suspected case of tuberculosis, it can also identify the gene which might have become drug resistant in case of MDR tuberculosis. Earlier, we had to send the samples to Agra - which is already overburdened with the load of many districts - due to which the report used to take at least a month's time to arrive. But now, this problem can be dealt with as reports can be sought in two hours."

Cabinet Minister, Shahid Manzoor, flagged off a van meant for tuberculosis awareness  From the district tuberculosis office.