Bhubaneswar: The fact that eradication of tuberculosis (TB) in India is a huge challenge has to be accepted and steps have to be taken accordingly to battle this menace, said Prof Sachidananda Mohanty, Director, Medical Education and Training (DMET) on Thursday.
“The diagnosis of tuberculosis cases in the eastern region has remained very low and there is a need for accelerated efforts to fight this battle,” he said. He was speaking at the inauguration of a two-day Zonal Task Force Workshop for the east zone which began at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar.
Underlining the need for better infrastructure, proper diagnosis and treatment of TB patients and availability of specialists, he said these hold the key to eradicate the disease from the eastern region. False reports on diagnosis of TB cases and the reluctance of people to visit TB wards were posing hurdles in the battle against the disease, he added.
Prof Pusparaj Samantasinhar, Medical Superintendent of IMS and SUM Hospital, said extra pulmonary TB cases where the disease was found in other parts of the body except the lungs were also found during the screening. Such cases were, however, receiving proper treatment in the multi-speciality IMS and SUM Hospital because of the availability of specialists.
IMS and SUM Hospital was ahead of other healthcare centres in diagnosis of tuberculosis cases in the state, he said.
Welcoming the participants, Dr SK Shahi, ZTF Chair, East Zone, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a call to eradicate tuberculosis from the country by 2025.
Dr Prasanta Kumar Hota, Special Taskforce Officer, said the medical colleges had a big role to play in the battle against TB while emphasising that the district administration and medical colleges had to maintain proper coordination in this regard.
Dr Ashok Bharadwaj, Chairperson of NTF, Dr Sanjay Mattoo, Additional Deputy Director General, Central TB Division and Prof Banani Jena, Head of Department, Pulmonary Medicine, IMS and SUM Hospital also spoke at the workshop.
