The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : NGOs have key role in revised TB control programme

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

NGOs have key role in revised TB control programme

Special Correspondent

"They can help to set up microscopy centres in interior and tribal areas" They could help to set up microscopy centres in interior and tribal areas

— Photo: Vino John

LIVELY EXCHANGE: Supriya Sahu, Additional Secretary, Health, interacting with the non-governmental organisations at a workshop on` Networking for Tuberculosis control' in Chennai on Tuesday. Looking on are Nalini Krishnan, Director-Projects, Reach (left), and P. R. Narayanan, Director Tuberculosis Research Centre (right).

CHENNAI: If Tamil Nadu's Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) is to get a fresh impetus, it will be with the cooperation of non-governmental organisations and the private sector, participants said at a workshop on `Networking for TB Control' held here on Tuesday.

Though the State's fine performance in case detection, sputum conversion and cure had put it in the `Green Zone,' it had to go further along with the NGOs and private practitioners to plug the loopholes in the system.

Supriya Sahu, Additional Health Secretary, said establishing strong private-public partnerships would be one of the areas that required attention. While some linkages had been established — 130 NGOs have signed up with the Government and 65 others have informally committed themselves — more would have to be developed. NGOs enjoyed the confidence of the people with whom they had established a rapport. Ms. Sahu said the NGOs' actual contribution to case finding was low (only 4.1 per cent of the TB programme), though there was greater potential. They could involve themselves in setting up microscopy centres in interior and tribal areas and serve as DOTS providers. At the field level, the NGOs would have an important role in controlling the defaulting rate among those under the DOTS programme.

The TB control programme was a flagship programme of the Government of India. It was well designed, executed and monitored and had shown an excellent progress over the years. If the NGOs were to piggy-back on this massive programme, a small push would go a long way, said P.R. Narayanan, director, TB Research Centre.

Subburam, State TB Officer, said the RNTCP was introduced in 1993 with the objective of curing 85 per cent of the cases and detecting at least 70 per cent of all cases. While there was a rapid expansion of the programme in 1998, indicated by a higher case finding and cure rate, it remained low in urban areas, including Chennai. The main reason: a large segment of the infected population in urban areas went to private practitioners, who were not within the RNTCP.

A study showed that 45 per cent of males and 63 per cent of females went to the private sector for help, indicating the need to involve this group too, M.S. Jawahar, Deputy Director, TB Research Centre, said. The challenges would be to diagnose early, ensure cure and handle the HIV epidemic which had a great impact on TB and strains of multi drug-resistant TB.

Subramania Raja, WHO Consultant on Public Private Mix, RNTCP, said the government health sector could not check the disease in isolation. Fighting the disease effectively required a systematic collaboration between the private and public sectors. He detailed five schemes available for NGOs who are willing to participate in the TB control programme.

S.T. Geetha, medical officer, TB Clinic, Puliyanthope, described the activities undertaken by the Chennai Corporation, along with the NGOs.

Nalini Krishnan, director-projects, Reach, invited the industrial sector to participate in the TB control programme, as this would reach a large number of employees.

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