Four months after Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and corporate czar Ratan Tata joined hands for a TB-Free India, last week marked yet another significant step towards fighting one of the deadliest diseases in India.
Members from lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha cutting across party lines have come together to take forward the drive against TB which claimed around 2.40 lakh lives in India in 2014. As per the WHO global TB report 2014, nearly 61,000 suffer from multidrug resistant TB in India.
At a “Parliamentarians Meet towards a TB-Free India”, which was chaired by Rajya Sabha Deputy Speaker PJ Kurien, MPs including Pradeep Bhatacharya (Cong), Balwinder Singh Bhunder (SAD), Anurag Thakur (BJP), Majeed Memon (Cong) and Baishnab Parida (BJD) also pledged to back political, administrative, and technical solutions to address specific barriers affecting TB prevention and care in India here.
The other MPs who attended the meet were Bhupinder Singh (BJD), Narayan lal Panchariya(BJP), Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu (Cong), Shadi lal Batra (Cong), Madan lal (Cong), Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP), Viplove Thakur (Cong) and Mabel Rebello (Cong).
The meet was jointly organised by Central TB Division, Union Health Ministry, The International Union against TB and lung disease (CTB-The Union) and IAPPD here.
Narrating successful experiences from advocacy efforts of HIV/AIDS program, Kurien said, “We can achieve the goal of a TB-Free India only if coordinated and concerted efforts are made by all the stakeholders including the Government, corporates and most importantly, the public at large.”
Thakur said that besides efforts for TB treatment and care, it is equally important to work against the stigma surrounding TB. He also stressed that financial support be provided to TB patients and their families because the disease also affects their livelihood to a great extent.
Congress MP Shanta Ram Naik said that investment in TB is beneficial for the progress of the country and efforts should be made to fund/support research in faster and efficient TB diagnostics and treatment. Memon said, “TB needs to be prioritised. When Polio can be eliminated, why can’t TBIJ” while Parida opined that, “Poverty makes people more vulnerable to TB infection. Should we wait to eradicate TB till poverty gets eradicatedIJ”
Khanna suggested the parliamentarians to adopt villages and organize free medical check-up camps to raise awareness on TB and proactively screen TB patients.
Sunil Khaparde, DDG TB, Central TB Division in the Ministry said, “Under the End TB Strategy we are aiming to reduce deaths from TB by 95 per cent; a 90 per cent reduction in TB incidence rate and to ensure that no family incurs catastrophic cost for TB treatment by 2035.”