A van equipped with the digital X-ray and CB – NAAT machines will visit the cities of Haryana to make the state TB-free. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, being the a brand ambassador, came to the launch of the van along with Haryana CM Manohar lal Khattar. Arjita Mishra reports
Remember the advertisement where Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan used to say ‘Do boond zindagi ki’ for an anti polio driveIJ That was the advertisement which motivated so many people to visit the polio booths to make their children consume those two precious drops. We should give due credit to this ad which had a major role in making India a polio free country.
After the immense success of that past campaign, Bachchan has again taken up a major responsibility with him as he has been appointed the ambassador for the campaign to eradicate tuberculosis in the state of Haryana. With an aim to make Haryana TB free, two mobile vans fitted with the digital chest X-Ray machine was launched by Medanta — The Medicity hospital in collaboration with the government of Haryana. Dr Naresh Trehan, chairman and managing director of Medanta said, “This programme aims to keep the patients aware about their status and encourage them to start treatment for TB. This will help in keeping count of TB patients across the state.”
The dignitaries present at the launch of this campaign included the US ambassador to India, Richard R Verma, Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, CM of Haryana Manohar lal Khattar and Dr Naresh Trehan.
Many years ago, UNICEF appointed Bachchan as an ambassador for polio eradication of the country, “We worked for almost eight years and after eight years I am very proud to say that today we have been successful to make India polio free,” he said with a satisfaction.
Bachchan who suffered TB in the year 2000 believes that, it is a popular misconception that this infectious, bacterial disease is restricted to only the people residing in adverse conditions. “Irrespective of what kind of environment you’re living in, there is a possibility that you can get infected yourself and I am an example of this as well,” said the megastar.
He also shared that he was cured with the help of medication but he expressed his displeasure with the fact that people do not complete the course of the medication prescribed to them. “I really do appreciate the selfless effort that doctors devote to their unenviable profession of curing people of their respective ailments, but the least that the patients can do is follow the instructions given to them,” said Bachchan.
The superstar showed his concern towards the superstition present in our country that with having various diversity in the country and with the presence of certain beliefs, keeps people away from the medication. He shared that they had certain problems with polio, there were certain communities which don’t want to take few polio drops as they say that is against their caste and culture. “Health and medication should not come in the way of it,” said Bachchan.
Speaking at the event, Khattar said, “The vans represent a good endeavour to improve case detections and can help the state in getting rid of this disease. Just as in the case of polio, we hope that this initiative will help confine TB to the history books, which is where it belongs.”
The vans will visit five districts of the state on working days of the week in its first phase and according to the future plans, second and third phase will include all the districts of the state.