STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: As a part of the initiative to make the country tuberculosis-free by 2025, the National Health Mission Assam has taken proactive steps to free the state from the disease. Special initiatives regarding the same will be undertaken at the primary, secondary, and tertiary health institutions in the state.
The first point of contact for diagnosis and treatment at the community level is the Community Health Officers (CHOs), who have been sensitized through training in all the Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs) to provide all TB services (diagnosis, detection, and treatment). State-of-the-art diagnostic tools for TB diagnosis, namely TrueNaat/ CBNAAT, are now available in all the district hospitals and most of the block-level health facilities in the state. The Intermediate Reference Laboratory (IRL) has been actively operationalized in GMCH for most of the latest diagnostic methods of TB detection at no cost.
Through this centre, advanced TB cases can be detected, followed by proper management through medicines. The Zonal Task Force (ZTF) meeting of the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) for medical colleges in the North East Region was held on Monday. Dr. M. S. Lakshmi Priya, Mission Director of NHM Assam, attended the meeting as the chief guest. She highlighted the role of primary, secondary, and tertiary care health institutions for TB notification. She further emphasized not only increasing TB case notification but also extensively implementing TB preventative therapy (TPT) towards a TB-free Assam.
Through a community-based approach, NHM Assam is actively working to build the capacity of carers at all levels, including providing support for community-based research. In comparison to 38097 notified TB patients in the year 2021, Assam has been able to achieve 47984 notified and treated TB cases in 2022. In 2023, the state plans to notify and treat more than 60,000 TB cases. NHM Assam also appealed to the people to come forward and avail the diagnosis and treatment facilities regarding TB that are available at all levels of health institutions.
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