Mumbai:
As the number of medical students contracting tuberculosis rises in Mumbai, the medical fraternity in the city is a scared lot. 24 medical students are fighting the disease, with the latest case reported from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run Nair hospital in Mumbai Central.
24-year-old medical student Samidha Khandare's dreams of treating others was tragically cut short when she died of multiple organ failure in the first week of July at Sion Hospital after a six-month battle with the fatal disease. She was given her medical degree on her hospital bed with her parents by her side.
Kapil Iyer, a resident doctor at Nair Hospital told NDTV, "One TB patient infects 15 others in the entire year. We have hundred patients coming in every day. No matter which branch of medicine you are in, there is a high risk of contracting tuberculosis."
He adds, "We are given surgical masks which do not provide the immunity that N-95 masks do. The patient is supposed to wear this mask so that there is a block in the release of harmful germs. But the shortcoming is that if moisture or dirt accumulates then it just may not work."
However, Avinash Supe, the Dean of Sion Hospital says "The doctors themselves are wary of using these surgical masks. We conduct health checks every trimester."
Experts say it's not lack of cleanliness alone but also apathy that fuels professional exposure to TB across Mumbai's civic hospitals.
Ironically, the latest casualty in the fight against TB seems to be the medical task force of Mumbai. But doctors say the risk could be avoided only if the BMC cared.