GOALPARA, March 25 - The World TB Day was organised for the first time with the State TB Cell, Guwahati in association with Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), Goalpara at Jana Mandir, Dudhnoi on March 24.
The Joint Director, Health Services Dr Ratneswar Basumatary in his presidential address informed the gathering that it�s a welcome news for all the people that the patients are treated free of cost with the newly-acquired diagnostics tools like fluorescent microscope, Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT) etc., and they are also provided free medicines and other facilities which are available in the Goalpara Civil Hospital. He also urged all TB patients to complete their treatment for a complete cure as tuberculosis can become multi drug resistant (MDR-TB) if a patient is not treated long enough.
Also, Joint Director, Health Services(STO) Dr Nayan Jyoti Das said that TB is a major public health problem and the objective is to cover all infected persons under the RNTCP in the State. He appealed to the large gathering, especially those suspected and infected persons to come and avail the facilities which are free of cost at the Government hospitals.
Another speaker, chairperson, RHAC Tarun Ch. Rabha thanked the Health Department for taking such initiatives for eradication of this deadly disease and requested all the doctors to be empathetic while dealing with patients.
Earlier, explaining the objective of the meeting Dr Janbir Das explained the objective of the meeting where he emphasised on decreasing the mortality due to TB and to ensure access to quality diagnosis and treatment for all TB cases in the district for which the RNTCP has been scaled up in the district. Many others, including the Additional DC (Health) Noor Hussein were present and spoke on the occasion.
The highlight of the event was a motorcycle rally from Guwahati to Dudhnoi which was then followed by a colourful cultural procession depicting the diverse traditions taken out by the students and health workers from the venue to mark the occasion. A large number of people attended the programme.
