Felicitating TB Champions, Dr. Nipun Jindal, DC Kangra unveils Roadmap for TB Elimination in Kangra

DC Kangra  unveils
Roadmap for TB Elimination in Kangra

New initiatives – support for TB orphans, latent TB treatment, Arogya Saathi App for TB, Block level committees & Active case
finding

– Kangra has outstanding TB Score of 93 and has bagged national bronze award in TB

The meeting of Zila Kshay Rog Samiti, District TB Forum and TB Comorbidities Committee was held under the chairmanship of Dr Nipun Jindal, IAS, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kangra at War Museum Dharamshala.

DC Kangra felicitated TB champions for their courage and commitment for this noble cause. It takes
courage to break the silence in a society, here stigma still shrouds this condition.

TB Champions Sonia,Surestha and Nagin Devi, who recovered from the disease and its social impact and are now helping others complete their treatment and cope with its stigma, shared their experiences.

Communities affected by TB can be backbone of TB response. Community engagement is a critical enabler to the TB programme. Other TB survivors shared their feedback on services. Speaking openly and boldly promotes solidarity, contributing to stigma reduction and improves utilisation of TB services.

Group-based opportunities for critical dialogue to
break the silence around TB sharing of experiences, and solidarity – TB forums provide this platform to catalyse this process. Vijay from Gunjan called for strengthening psychosocial support to fight stigma.

DC Kangra stated that District Kangra was awarded bronze medal under TB free certification this year through
third party certification and congratulated all stakeholders for this achievement.

He further added that an
amount of Rs 2.6 crore has been paid to TB patients in the district under this Nikshay Poshan Yojna (NPY)
since inception of the scheme.

Under this scheme, an amount of Rs 500 per month is paid through Direct Bank transfer benefit to TB patient., and Kangra is best performing in the state under this scheme.

He launched the Arogya Saathi App for TB- which empowers patients to track their treatment progress and
view their NPY benefit status on their mobile, this app also has awareness information for the community.
Reviewing the progress under bus fare for Drug resistant TB Patients and facility of free CT/MRI for TB patients, he directed that TB patients’ entitlements be prominently displayed in hospitals for wide awareness and uptake of these services.

He stated that toll free National TB call center Nikshay Sampark 1800-11-6666 is operational for patient support, for service linkage and grievance redressal.
Under the new strategy to accelerate TB Elimination in Kangra he launched major initiatives which include: – Renewed efforts through Active door to door case Finding, with doorstep sample transport through ASHA to
Detect more cases, and find them early.

The services for case finding under the TB Programme include free testing through network of 40 quality assured microscopy centers, modern Fluorescent Microscopes at 11
locations, novel CBNAAT and TruNaat testing at over 6 locations. increased TruNaat testing machines will be
installed with placement for most blocks. Existing TruNaat machines are being used testing of both COVID
and TB. – Pilot project AKSHAY Plus will be launched in Distt. Kangra and Shimla under the test and treat model of latent TB which will prevent TB, this initiative is supported by the Union against TB. Latent TB is the inactive form of bacteria, which can get active when immunity of body reduces due to some reason. – To Build and strengthen the TB response, supportive systems with enhanced capacities like Block Kshay
Rog Samiti, TB Forums for patient centric response, TB free panchayats initiative. including digital media
resource centre with NGO support.

To engage with youth social media presence will be further strengthened.

DC Kangra directed that all bottlenecks need to be addressed to further improve programme performance and
services.

He also mooted the concept of educational kits for orphans of TB patients by the District administration, and asked the health department to conduct a mapping to identify beneficiaries in this regard.

He called to increase awareness through multiple channels including community radio.

On the occasion, CMO Kangra Dr Gurdarshan Gupta stated that out of the 1 crore new TB cases annually, 26% are in India. District Kangra notified 1356 TB cases in 2021, which was 94% of the target. During peak of second wave of COVID19, there was slight decline in the TB notification in May, and the trend is again
improving.

He added that the performance score of TB Programme for this period was 93% based on composite of 9 indicators, for which he thanked all stakeholders. TB score above 80 are considered very good.

District TB Officer Dr RK Sood shared that latent (inactive) TB bacteria activation leads to disease when immunity is decreased, hence they are screened for risk factors regularly.

The screening data of TB patients for these conditions for 2021 revealed that 24% of TB patients are tobacco users, while 15% are diabetic; another 1.2% are also HIV positive.
District TB Officer Dr RK Sood appreciating the role of civil society in the TB response shared that various
organizations have been supporting the TB Response including Rotary Club Palampur, which provided ration to families of deceased TB patients, Shakti foundation which has provided masks for families of TB patients.

Shakti foundation also supported over 600 ASHA kits which will also empower them in active case finding for
TB.

He thanked the Sanik Welfare Department, War Memorial Society and Sainik Welfare League who came
forward to support for the social cause,

He called upon other social organizations to support this noble cause.

Dr. Ravinder Kumar, WHO Consultant HP explained the importance of the role of different stakeholders and
insisted involvement of Media, TB Survivors, Chemists, Private practitioners, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Ayurveda & Women and Child Development etc to be strengthened to accelerate TB response.

He called upon all to make Ending TB a people’s movement.

Dr Rajesh Guleri, Sr MS Dharamshala; Dr Vinay Mahajan, Medical Supdt Palampur; Dr Vikram Katoch, Distt Health Officer; Col KS Chahal Dy Director Sainik Welfare, Col YS Rana Gen Secy Ex-Servicemen League,
Dr. Sanjay Bhardwaj IMA representative cum corporation Health Officer Dharamshala; Dr Shiv Gautam
representative of Ayurveda Department, Sh Ashwani Kumar, District Panchayati Raj Officer; Sandeep Parmar
and Vijay from Gunjan NGO, Sureshta from Zindagi Zindabad network of Leople living with HIV, National
Health Mission Consultants Dr Deepika and Dr Priya; Drug Inspectors, Team of staff from National TB Elimination Programme and other stakeholders participated and shared inputs.