Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Awareness rally taken out to mark TB Day

Photo: M. Govarthan

Focus on prevention: Collector T. Udhayachandran (right) inaugurating the TB awareness rally at Government Hospital in Erode on Monday. —

ERODE: Every member of the society has a role to play in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), A. Rajasekaran, deputy director, medical services (TB), Erode, has said.

Participating in a function organised to mark World TB Day and release of 58th TB Seal, he said every member’s role was important because the spread of TB was quick and wide.

“Every infected person has the potential to infect 10 to 15 persons in a year,” he said and added that the country was home to 20 per cent of the world’s TB patients with 1.80 crore affected people.

TB, Dr. Rajasekaran pointed out, “killed two persons every three minutes and 1,000 persons a day.”

To tackle the problem, the Government had launched the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme, wherein infected persons were treated free of cost and administered medicines under direct supervision of medical personnel or others.

In Erode, 32 sputum testing centres, six TB units and drug houses one each in Erode, Chennimalai, Athani, Punjai Puliampatti, Vellakoil and Sivagiri were functioning. At those centres, TB medicines were given for six to eight months.

Since the launch of the revised TB programme on June 6, 2001, 1,72,778 persons had undergone sputum tests of which 19,659 were found to be TB positive, the Deputy Director said and added that those persons were under treatment.

Between April 1, 2007 and February 29, 2008 over 25,000 persons underwent the sputum test. Of those, 2,564 persons were under treatment, he added.

Earlier in the day, Collector T. Udhayachandran flagged off a TB awareness rally from Government Hospital premises.

V. Nagarajan, joint director, health services, Erode, participated.

Hundreds of nursing students and volunteers participated in the rally.

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