Increasing the Effectiveness of the Diagnosis and
Management of Difficult-to-treat BPAL or Cases
Through the Tb Medical Advisory Committee (TBMAC)

(Photo credit:  Dr Marietta Solante, NTBMAC)

Commissioned by the National TB Control Program (NTP), the TB Medical Advisory Committee (TBMAC) is a multi-disciplinary group of medical specialists composed mainly of doctors and nurses who provides clinical expertise and guidance to clinicians and healthcare providers in the diagnosis and management of clinically difficult drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) and drug-sensitive TB (DS-TB) cases by providing technically sound and evidence-based recommendations thus lowering the risk of making diagnostic mistakes  or inappropriate management to improve their clinical outcomes.

The TBMAC supports the BPaL operational research (OR) mainly in an advisory capacity by providing technical input on challenging cases to reach consensus on the best management approach for potential enrollees and enrolled patients of the OR sites.  Furthermore, the group supports the communication and dissemination of information about the OR through training participation and referrals, and advocates for its objectives at their respective jurisdiction.

The committee includes different medical specialties and competencies from various fields (e.g., pulmonologists, radiologists, chest physicians, public health experts, etc.), established at the national and regional levels.  The National TBMAC Chair, currently in the person of Dr Marietta Solante, provides over-all leadership to the body which is composed of multi-specialty doctors (public and private) trained and experienced in managing DR-TB/DS-TB patients. Likewise, the Regional TBMAC groups are headed by medical doctors who have extensive experience in the management of DR-TB/DS-TB cases. The regional committees meet monthly where challenging cases are elevated to the national TBMAC through the e-TBMAC platform developed by the Department of Health through the Knowledge Management and Information Technology Service (DOH-KMITS). A list of the national and regional TBMAC, together with contact details of focal points, is indicated in the table below for reference.

National and Regional TBMAC Contact Information*We acknowledge with gratitude the input of Dr Marietta Solante for reviewing this article and providing the contact details of national and regional TBMAC in the above table. 

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