‘Active Tuberculosis patient search campaign’ begins in Kanpur

KANPUR: The active TB patient search campaign began under the National Tuberculosis Eradication program on Friday. This time a target has been set to cover 20 percent i.e 9.82 lakhs population to the total population of the slums and high risk population (HIV and Diabetes) .
District Tuberculosis Officer (DTO) Dr AP Mishra said that active TB patients were being searched in the district from February 24 to March 5. In this campaign, emphasis was being laid on high risk areas, slums etc. He appealed to the public that hiding TB disease will not cure them. On witnessing the symptoms of TB, a test should be done as soon as possible. After TB is confirmed, it can be completely cured with complete treatment on doctor’s consultation.
NTEP District Program Coordinator Rajeev Saxena said that there are some tuberculosis patients in the society who were not coming forward due to ignorance and fear. In this case, people themselves become victims of disease and also affect others. This campaign has been started through 12 TB units of the district to find such hidden people and get them treated by giving proper advice. For the campaign, 255 teams have been formed to search for TB patients in 1,96,488 houses in the identified areas, he added.
“For the success of the campaign, 50 supervisors and 11 medical officers have been engaged who are monitoring the teams. If the symptoms are found in the team’s inspection, the survey team will take a sample of the person’s sputum and send it for examination. Once the disease is confirmed, the person’s treatment will start within two days and the survey team will also be given an incentive of Rs 600,” Saxena said.
He appealed to the public that if the team reaches someone’s door during the campaign, then they should cooperate with them, provide correct information, so that tuberculosis patients can be identified and treated and the district can be made tuberculosis free.