So far the major donors are corporate firms which take this role seriously as part of their CSR outreach activities, says Dr Balasaheb Hodgar, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation TB officer. At Pimpri Chinchwad, some 600 TB patients have been adopted.A CENTRAL government initiative that encourages people to adopt TB patients has only a few takers in Pune. More than six months after the scheme was launched, 1,200 TB patients have been adopted mainly by corporate houses and national institutions, which have registered to adopt such patients and look after their nutritional and medical needs.
On March 24, World TB Day, the National Institute of Naturopathy will adopt 100 TB patients and to encourage more citizens towards this cause, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) health authorities will give away food baskets containing oil, cereal, peanuts and wheat or rice to 50 families of TB patients. So far in the Pune city area, only 76 people and institutions have volunteered to become Ni-kshay Mitras (Friends of those affected by TB) and agreed to adopt TB patients.
In the PMC area, 601 TB patients have been adopted while 600 patients have been adopted in the PCMC area since the scheme commenced in September last year. The Ni-kshay Mitra — Adopt a TB patient — is an initiative of the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP). Donors are encouraged to adopt a TB patient as part of the community support to TB patients for a minimum of six months.
As part of the scheme the donor can sponsor a food basket — amounting to approximately Rs 700 per month which would include 3 kg of either wheat / bajra / rice, cereals, oil and peanuts among other ingredients, Dr Prashant Bothe, City TB officer, PMC, told The Indian Express.
TB remains one of the world’s top infectious killers, causing 1.6 million deaths each year worldwide, according to WHO. The Global TB Report 2022 also stated that India saw 5.04 lakh estimated deaths due to all forms of TB and, according to health officials, efforts to provide better nutrition for underprivileged TB patients will also help in controlling the disease.
According to the City TB Control Department, Pune city has reported 7,203 new cases of TB in 2022. There are 257 people living with multi-drug resistant TB and require an extended treatment of nine months with multiple drugs and injections.
Apart from the National Institute of Naturopathy there are institutions like the Indian Council of Medical Research-National AIDS Research Institute (ICMR-NARI), Agharkar research institute, Rotary Club of Poona Downtown Charitable Trust and some individuals who have registered on the Ni-Kshay web-enabled patient management system. So far the major donors are corporate firms which take this role seriously as part of their CSR outreach activities, says Dr Balasaheb Hodgar, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation TB officer. At Pimpri Chinchwad, some 600 TB patients have been adopted.