The app allows healthcare professionals who handle TB patients to calculate the right BMI and nutrition levels.

Bengaluru :

After N-TB app developed by a Mangaluru professor and his team gained popularity among doctors and Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), the team has been approached by the Ministry of Health to upgrade the app and make it more patient-friendly.

The developer of the app, Anurag Bhargava, professor of medicine at Yenepoya Medical College in Mangaluru, says, “The present app is definitely of help to the doctors and nurses advising dietary counselling, which is a major part of treatment of persons with Tuberculosis (TB). We need to upgrade the app to make it more people-oriented.”

In the new app, according to sources, the Ministry of Health also plans to include ‘Nikshay programme’, where registration and monitoring of TB Patients will take place online.

“The existing NT-B app provides information on nutrition, as under-nutrition could prove to be fatal for those with TB. This is the critical indicator that will be shown in the app, to help in dietary counselling. The app also demystifies dietary counselling by calculating the nutritional value of food. Weight is an indicator that is often monitored when treating TB, but height too is critical in getting the actual picture,” explains Bhargava.

The app allows healthcare professionals who handle TB patients to calculate the right BMI and nutrition levels. This app was developed based on the guidance document on nutritional care and support for patients with tuberculosis in India, that was released by the RNTCP last year.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Chetana Belagere / Express News Service / February 07th, 2019