Ann Med Med Res | Volume 7, Issue 1 | Research Article | Open Access
Kakar A, Ahmad N, Wahid A* and Khan A
Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Balochistan, Pakistan
*Correspondance to: Abdul Wahid
Fulltext PDFHigh morbidity and mortality rates are associated with COVID-19, nations across the globe are committing more healthcare resources and efforts to battle this disease. The simultaneous disruption of healthcare services, reassignment of healthcare staff from other units to COVID-19 units, and the use of laboratories for COVID-19 testing has affected the management of other chronic diseases such as tuberculosis, Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, AIDS, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. During the initial year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is estimated that TB services experienced a global decline of 20% to 40%. Hence the current study was designed to consider the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on Tuberculosis control in Balochistan. The study was retrospective designed and the data was collected from National TB Control Program Balochistan, a representative body of the province to control and manage TB cases. Medical charts of all patients enrolled from 2019 to 2020 at study site suffering from TB irrespective of age, gender or ethnicity were accessed. In our study it was found that there was a decrease of 17% in the detection rate of TB from the year 2019 to 2020. However, the COVID-19 lockdown had a significant impact on the TB case notification with a 57% decline in Q2-2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019. These findings highlight the complex challenges posed by the pandemic, including resource diversion, decreased laboratory capacity, and stigma hindering access to diagnostic services.
COVID-19; Case detection; Lockdown; Tuberculosis
Kakar A, Ahmad N, Wahid A, Khan A. The Impact of COVID-19 on Case Detection Rate of Tuberculosis Cases in Baluchistan, Pakistan. Ann Med Medical Res. 2024; 7: 1075..