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World TB Day today

By SIVASISH THAKUR

GUWAHATI, March 23 - Of the total 1,59,815 tuberculosis (TB) suspects screened for the disease in the year 2016 in Assam, 37,140 were detected with TB and put on treatment. Of these, 32,090 were successfully cured. The past few years have shown a similar trend of large-scale TB detection, with 1,64,427 people screened, 37,975 detected and treated, and 32,122 successfully cured in 2015.

According to health experts, the large number of TB detection is a positive trend and holds the key to achieving the target of eliminating the disease by 2025.

�It is a welcome trend that more and more people are showing up for TB detection. There was a time when people did not come forward for screening due to poor awareness levels. That has changed now, especially after a lot of thrust was accorded on timely detection and treatment under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP),� Dr NJ Das, Joint Director, Health Services, Assam, and SPO, RNTCP, told The Assam Tribune.

Dr Das added that on the occasion of World TB Day tomorrow, special programmes were being organised to expedite the screening process further.

�World TB Day is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing deaths of nearly one-and-a-half million people each year, mostly in developing countries,� he said.

In Assam, the RNTCP was started as a pilot project in Dibrugarh in 1998. Through phase-wise expansion, the complete coverage of the State was achieved in 2004. The programme has been able to roll out PMDT (Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant TB) services for the MDR-TB patients from the year 2012.

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