Governor Droupadi Murmu appealed to the intellectuals, doctors and community health workers to go to villages, identify Tuberculosis (TB) suspects and encourage them for treatment. launching seven mobile TB diagnostics vans from Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) premises on Thursday, Murmu stressed upon requirement of concerted efforts in eradicating TB from State which had claimed considerable number of tribal lives in Jharkhand.
The mobile TB diagnostics vans have been provided to three districts of State in first phase under targeted intervention to expand and strengthen TB control in tribal populations under the revised national tuberculosis control programme, India (the TIE-TB Project) by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). These districts include Gumla, Dumka and East Singhbhoom which are tribal dominated.
The vans have been equipped with digital X-Ray machine, sputum testing machine and blood pressure and blood sugar testing equipments. These vans will visit to villages in these three districts where there have been no TB cases registered by Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) to find whether there is any TB suspect in the village.
“Keeping developments in medical sciences in mind, TB has not remained a none-curable disease anymore. However, the prevailing social stigma in distant villages about the disease has kept suspects away from diagnostic centres including district health centres. It is necessary for intellectuals, doctors and community health workers to go to villages and encourage suspects for visiting to the health centres because TB is completely curable now a days,” said Murmu.
She added that TB figures in tribal society were dreadful due to a number of reasons. “Data suggest that 256 people have been suffering from TB in every one lakh of population nationally. But the number of TB suspects in every one lakh tribal population is as high as 703. This is not good for a State which 13 out of 24 districts remain tribal dominated areas,” said Murmu where Health Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Sudhir Tripathi, RIMS Director Bl Sherwal, DHR Secretary and ICMR Director General Soumya Swaminathan, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre (Bhubaneshwar) Director Sanghamitra Pati and other officials were present.
“TB eradication requires sufficient amount of political commitment and it is pleasant to witness that the State government appears to demonstrate that level of commitment. Tribal population of India is densely effected with TB due to malnutrition and underweight issues. I would suggest inducting some dieticians also with the programme which has worked wonders in Chhattisgarh,” said Swaminathan.
Chandravanshi said on the occasion that the tribals contributed to 8.6 per cent population of the State. “This is a huge number and I extend all commitments from government to eradicate TB from State. I also request ICMR to extend the programme in areas like Simdega and Santhal Pargana,” said Chandravanshi.