- ON LINES OF PULSE POLIO DRIVE, HEALTH OFFICIALS TO VISIT DOOR TO DOOR & IDENTIFY TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS
- MAIN AIM OF THIS SPECIAL DRIVE IS FOR COMPLETE ERADICATION OF TUBERCULOSIS: DR HARPREET SINGH BAINS
Ludhiana, March 5: For complete eradication of tuberculosis, the health department would be organising a special drive from March 8-23, 2020 in the district. Civil Surgeon Dr Rajesh Kumar Bagga informed that this special drive would be organised on the lines of pulse polio drive, where the health workers would carry out a door to door survey of all households and identify tuberculosis patients.
District Tuberculosis (TB) Officer Dr Harpreet Singh Bains informed that the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) programme has now been renamed as National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP). He informed that just like the pulse polio drive, the special drive under NTEP would be carried out in the district every six months.
He said that during this drive, high risk target areas would be covered by health department teams, and the sputum of patients would be tested free of cost. If any patient is found positive for tuberculosis, then the patient would be referred to the nearest government hospital, where free X Ray and free sputum testing along with free medicine for six months would be given to them. Along with this the patient would also be given Rs 500 per month for nutrition and this amount would be deposited directly in their bank account.
Dr Harpreet Singh Bains stated that this would be the second round of this drive as the first round was successfully completed in the month of September 2019. He further informed that for creating awareness about tuberculosis, a “hanky rally” would be carried out in district on March 17. Whereas a district-level function regarding the World TB Day would be organised on March 24, 2020. He said that the main aim of organising this drive is complete eradication of tuberculosis by the year 2025.
A meeting in this regard was chaired by Dr Bains at Civil Surgeon Office, in which all the block level medical officers would made aware about this drive.
By: Karni Pratap
