In Photos: Fighting Tuberculosis In Howrah's Slums

What does it mean to fight tuberculosis in urban slums? A glimpse into Howrah's St Thomas' Home Welfare Society.

A doctor comforting a child suffering from tuberculosis.

(Photo: Ritayan Mukherjee/TheQuint)

Every day, hundreds of suspected tuberculosis patients visit St Thomas' Home Welfare Society (BSTHWS) – a charitable tuberculosis hospital located in Bantra in Howrah, the city neighbouring West Bengal's capital Kolkata.

This hospital offers 42 free beds for women with complicated tuberculosis.

The hospital is surrounded by numerous urban slums and shanties and treats patients from marginalised sections of society.

Congested living conditions increase the risk of tuberculosis among families. According to doctors, at least five to seven people live in the same room as a TB patient in the urban slums surrounding the hospital.

A healthcare worker checks an X-ray plate of a suspected tuberculosis patient. X-ray is the primary diagnostic method for pulmonary tuberculosis – an infection that involves the lungs.

Chest X-ray may show the condition of the lung, based on which doctors prescribe treatment.

26-year-old Seikh Jubian (name changed) has been diagnosed with bone tuberculosis. He was a 'zari-artist' in the Chengail area of the Howrah district. He lost his job because of the disease.

He is now worried that his family will be forced to bear the brunt of his unemployment and the financial burden of his treatment.

Doctors recommend tuberculosis tests if a person has persistent coughs for more than two weeks, in addition to persisting fever an weight loss. Here, a doctor is seen collecting puss samples for tuberculosis testing.

This is Tobias Vogt, a German doctor treating Kolkata's marginsalised patients for the past 20 years on behalf of the charitable organisation. Here, he is seen comforting a child who suffers tuberculosis and is in extreme pain.

Healthcare workers examine a patient who had an operation on the spinal cord. The patient, who had spinal TB, lost his ability to stand up and was paralysed. Now, after the procedure, he can stand and move around.

However, many tuberculosis patients find it difficult to walk or move around even after recovery due to weakness. The hospital provides wheelchairs for them to move around.

Healthcare workers associated with an NGO visit a tuberculosis patient's home. An essential aspect of the battle against the disease is monitoring discharged patients, checking whether they are taking medicines on time and following necessary guidelines sidelines.

When a patient is resistant to Rifampicin – a first-line drug used to treat TB – it profoundly affects the treatment. Several antibiotics are reportedly administered for many months in its place.

A beautiful sample of a dress made by a 16-year-old bone tuberculosis patient. In many homes and TB hospitals, patients receive training in embroidery and knitting, which makes them self-sustainable after discharge.

India's tuberculosis incidence for the year 2021 is 210 per 100,000 population – compared to the baseline year of 2015 (incidence was 256 per lakh of population in India), as per World Health Organisation's (WHO) Tuberculosis Report, published in October 2022.

The country has also seen an 18 percent decline which is 7 percentage points better than the global average of 11 percent.

But what does it mean to fight tuberculosis in urban slums? Here's a glimpse into St Thomas' Home Welfare Society (BSTHWS) – a charitable tuberculosis hospital located in Bantra in Howrah, the city neighbouring West Bengal's capital Kolkata.

(Ritayan Mukherjee is an independent photographer from Kolkata. He is working on a long-term project that documents the lives of pastoral and nomadic communities in India. Ritayan has several publications and Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards (RNG Awards) in his portfolio.)