IMPHAL, March 17: The 35th World TB Day will be observed on March 19 at the auditorium of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, informed State TB Officer Dr Y Gopikrishna Singh said today.
Speaking at a press conference at STDC/IRL hall (R&D) Wing, Medical Directorate, Lamphelpat today, he said patients who are already cured of TB will also take out a rally under the theme “United to end TB” during the observation.
Highlighting the diagnostic advances in Manipur today, Dr Gopikrishna said the Intermediate Reference Laboratory (IRL) located in Lamphelpat, Imphal has jurisdiction of three states viz Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.
IRL-Imphal is equipped with one the most sophisticated and advanced molecular based equipment for diagnosis and confirmation of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TBI) name Cartridge Based Nucleic acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT) since 2013, he said.
It is capacitated with to detect TB cases which would not be normally detected by microscopy, and results are made available within two hours, he added.
He added that by the end of March more CBNAAT will be installed and made functional in the three districts of Imphal East at JNIMS, Churachandpur and Senapati.
By April, another five more CBNAAT machines will be installed covering all districts of the State.
With these advances, Manipur will be the first in the country where molecular based equipment for TB diagnosis and confirmation of multi drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is installed covering every district, he claimed.
Dr Gopikrishna also said TB continues to be a major health scare and early diagnosis for a complete treatment is the corner stone of TB prevention and control strategy.
Inappropriate diagnosis and irregular/incomplete treatment with anti TB drugs may lead to complication, disease spread and emergence of drug resistant TB, he added.
On May 7, 2012, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued an order instructing that the healthcare providers shall notify every TB case to local authorities every month in a given format available in all District TB Centres, he said.
For the purpose of this notification, healthcare providers will include clinical establishment run or managed by the government (including local authorities) private or NGOs sectors and/or individual practitioners, he added.
Dr Y Gopikrishana Singh stated that TB is curable and all of us need to be aware of signs and symptoms of TB, we need to take responsibility of ensuring that anyone with persistent cough has sputum examination, all TB case should treated till cured, he added.
He further elaborated on the need to conduct mass awareness programmes and collective efforts of the people to eradicate the disease.
The WHO’s end TB strategy aims to totally end the TB by 2030 and envisions a world free of TB with zero deaths, disease and suffering, he added.
Partners and stakeholders decided on a strong and action oriented tagline for this year campaign, cosign this dynamic and rallying cry which allows for strong mobilization on the ground as well as high level advocacy.
The World TB Day is the day to build awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis; on March 24, 1982 Dr Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, he said.
Dr Robert Koch’s discovery was the most important step towards the control and elimination of this deadly disease, and in 1982, 100 years after Robert Koch’s discovery the 1st World TB Day observation on every March 24 was proposed by the International Union against TB and Lung diseases (IUATLED) subsequently in 1996 WHO joined the IUATLED, he added.
TB is a top infectious killer worldwide, TB, HIV –associated TB and MDR/XDR-TB present a threat to development and global health security.
There are about nine million people and year that get sick with TB, a third of them do not get the TB services that they deserve.
Many of them are in world’s poorest communities and included groups such as migrants, miners, drug users and sex workers.
