Claiming about 200 lives every year, tuberculosis (TB) has become another major killer disease in Ganjam district. This is despite the Revised Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) being implemented in the district with an aim to control the disease through the Directly Observed Treatment Short course Strategy (DOTS) since February 2004.
Besides DOTS Plus, a multi-drug resistant TB programme was implemented in the district since April 2009. The cause of the high prevalence rate of TB in the district is suspected to be due to the fact that Ganjam has the highest number (38 per cent) of HIV positive cases. "TB and HIV are co-related and we have given much stress on TB control as it has the highest number of HIV positive cases in the state," said a senior medical officer.
Sources said 5,338 TB cases were registered in the district in 2012 against 5,427 in 2011 and 5,221 in 2010. The number of deaths in the disease was registered at 189 in 2012. As many as 198 and 200 persons died in 2011 and 2010, respectively, official sources said.
The district observed the World TB Day here on Sunday with local MlA Ramesh Ch Chyaupatnaik and Chief District Medical Officer SN Routray addressing a meeting held for spreading awareness among the people about the need for early treatment of TB.
District TB Officer G Patnaik, however, said the death rate in Ganjam is not alarming compared to the national average. "Our percentage of death in the disease is 3.2 in 2012 against the national average of 4," he said.