Punjab govt to seek corporate support in fight against TB

Punjab health, family welfare department has conducted a state-level meeting of almost 40 business houses of the state and appealed them to enroll themselves as Ni-kshay Mitras

Health and family welfare minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra on Wednesday said that eight districts of Punjab have already received “bronze category” certification for eradicating tuberculosis (TB) by 2025, and the Punjab health and family welfare department has set an aim to get five more districts in “silver category” while three more in bronze category during the next year. Revealing this, the minister said for the year 2022-23, department has set a target to identify and treat 70,000 patients.

Health department has organised a two-day workshop at the MGSIPA Chandigarh with an aim to eradicate TB by bringing down the new incidences of TB cases by more than 80%. (HT file photo)

He said that department has organised a two-day workshop at the MGSIPA Chandigarh with an aim to eradicate TB by bringing down the new incidences of TB cases by more than 80%.

Jauramajra said that this workshop has been organised as a part of the nationwide efforts by the Union ministry of health and family welfare and the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) to find, test and treat more and more TB cases by actively collaborating with stake-holders, private sector, patients and communities to measure progress and identify gaps for course correction. Jauramajra further said the department has recently conducted a state-level meeting of almost 40 business houses of the state and appealed them to enroll themselves as “Ni-kshay Mitras”, which is part of a government initiative to treat TB patients. He instructed the district tuberculosis officers (DTOs) to get in touch with the interested corporates and take this initiative further. The minister reiterated that the target of TB elimination may seem huge and difficult but with collective efforts it would be achieved, he added.