Door-to-door survey to identify TB patients

Eluru: Determined to improve tuberculosis treatment success rate from the existing 93 per cent to 100 per cent in West Godavari, the district administration has embarked on a door-to-door survey to identify patients in rural areas. District Collector Dr G Vani Mohan informed this while participating in a meeting organised to coincide with the World Tuberculosis Day at Government Hospital here on Sunday. She flagged off a TB-awareness rally that passed through parts of the town. Speaking at the meeting, she said the government was spending liberally to contain the dreaded disease. Expensive medicines were made available free of cost to patients. She asked the patients to take the drugs as prescribed by government doctors to get relief. Special TB eradication centres were opened at Primary Health Centres (PHC) in each mandal, she informed. The Collector said the administration had planned special medical camps all over the district to provide timely treatment to the patients. The district has been successful towards reaching the target of eradication of TB to a great extent. The special medical treatment extended to patients had helped the district health authorities achieve this impressive success rate, she claimed. Dr Vani called upon the medical officers and staff to put in committed efforts and work with dedication to realise the aim of the government to eradicate TB. She appreciated the efforts of the health machinery, especially medical services offered to the suffering lot. She expected the staff to work with the same spirit to keep the district free from tuberculosis. She asked the auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs), accredited social health activists (ASHA) and Anganwadi workers to strive for eradication of tuberculosis in the district. Stating that drug resistance in tuberculosis occurs due to weak TB control programmes, she said that the disease should be tackled with exclusive treatments recommended to fight multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB. She instructed medical officers and DOT (directly observed therapy) providers to start treatment of patients immediately after their identification during the door-to-door survey in villages . Cancer screening camps With the same breath, the Collector announced that the district administration was planning to organise special cancer screening camps all over the district. The emphasis would be on identifying patients suffering from cancer in the first stage itself. The disease had emerged as a major killer in the recent past, she said. She also warned the people to be aware of diseases like diabetes and blood pressure which would lead to instant death. The Collector released pamphlets on awareness of the disease. She also presented citations to a selected few for their extraordinary contribution in fighting TB. The recipients include K Keerti, Y Sarala Devi, Purnavati, Sai Sailaja, J Rajamani and Santa Kumari. District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) Sakuntala, District TB eradication officer Sudhir Babu and others medical experts spoke.