Four UT villages most vulnerable to TB

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 19

Four UT villages have been found most vulnerable to tuberculosis (TB) in a hotspot mapping done by the State TB Centre.

Dhanas has the maximum 538 TB patients, followed by Mani Majra where 489 people are suffering from the disease. Mauli Jagran (50) and Bapu Dham Colony (17) are the two other vulnerable villages in the UT. Since it is a communicable disease, health experts have sounded a red alert.

“A large population is living together in small area in these four villages. Compared with the city, chances of residents getting inflicted with TB are very high in these villages. We have deployed our medical van, which was acquired six months ago, in villages to detect TB,” said Dr Rajiv Khaneja, State TB Officer.

Besides, CB-NAAT machine is available at the PGI and the GMCH-32 for certain TB tests under the State Health Society Revised National Tuberculosis Programme (RNTCP).

The Centre also supplies sufficient drugs to villages. He said a private club was also providing supplements like soya powder and ‘gud-channa’ (jaggery and black grams) to affected people in such areas as high protein diet was required during the treatment of every chronic disease. 

Dr Khaneja said diabetics and people with HIV, low immunity, malnutrition and hygiene issues were more prone to TB. “If cough persists for more than two weeks, it can be TB. In such a case, the patient should immediately visit nearby health centre. There are 17 diagnosis centres and a private diagnosis centre in the city,” he added.

The city saw 5,751 TB cases from January 1 to December 19 this year. Last year, the figure was 6,107. About 50 per cent of these cases pertain to outstation patients.

Dr Neeraj Kumar, president, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Chandigarh, said, “There is a steep rise in the number of TB patients in the region. Therefore, measures are being taken to ensure that all patients are notified on time so that their treatment is monitored and completed.”

He said out of the four TB deaths in the world, one was reported from India.

Doctors said TB was fully curable and society should not attach any social stigma to it.