World TB Day observed

Staff Correspondent

Shillong, March 24: Stating that 1. 7 million people die from Tuberculosis (TB) every year around the world , Meghalaya Chief Secretary PB Warjri reminded the medicos and the para-medics of the danger posed by the disease in Meghalaya. Speaking at a function to observe World Tuberculosis Day in Shillong on Tuesday, the Chief Secretary was candid in reminding the gathering about the dreaded disease and its curable aspects. Warjri further stressed that people should be aware of the disease and understand its ture, cause and prevention. He informed that discipline is necessary for proper treatment of the disease since lot of patience is also required especially in case of Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) TB patients. He also urged the doctors and para-medical staff to advise the tuberculosis patients to take proper medication and treat the disease with the facilities available in the TB hospitals and win the battle against the disease. In her keynote address Dr. T I Rngad, State Tuberculosis Officer, said that the day is observed to raise awareness among the common public about the epidemic of tuberculosis. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of Tuberculosis, and subsequently opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB, she added.

Dr. Rngad stated that a new network “Stop TB Partnership” has been launched by the various organizations to fight against TB by highlighting the scope of prevention and cure of this disease to the common public. She further informed that the Revised tiol Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) has achieved success in reduction of morbidity, mortality and prevalence in the State and the since 2012, the entire State has been covered under programmatic magement of drug resistance tuberculosis which is a burning health problem in Meghalaya.

Under the programme, about 446 cases of MDR-TB are on treatment, few cases of XDR-TB (11 nos) are diagnosed, 41 cases of TB-HIV co-infected in 2014 are diagnosed and about 5000 TB cases are treated annually, she stated.

Meanwhile, a separate function was held in Jowai, West Jaintia Hills. Speaking as the Chief Guest, Deputy Commissioner PS Dkhar stressed on the need to dedicate ourselves in saving our society from the dreadful disease. He said each one of us have to reach out and play our part actively to prevent the spread of the disease, instead of depending only on the health department we should help our friends or neighbours if found affected or suspected to have this disease and take them to the nearest health centre for test and treatment. He further said Tuberculosis can be cured if all of us work together to prevent the spread of this disease. He therefore called upon the members of the public, students, teachers and all to join hand and see that our society is free from this disease.