Union Health Minister seeks public support to eradicate TB

People must support Nikshay Mitr Abhiyan so that tuberculosis can be eradicated, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday.

During a two-day visit to the city, he launched the interim report of India’s catalog of Mycobaterium TB mutation and their association with drug resistance at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Research Institute on tuberculosis, in addition to a booklet on nutritional support in Tamil for patients.

He said there were still 50,000 people with TB, but only 5% of them had agreed to support the programme. No less than 35% had not yet accepted it. “Only with your support, as in COVID, can we together overcome this obstacle to the nation’s progress,” he said.

Earlier in the day, he reported on a bike rally, organized by National Health Mission, to highlight “Healthy India, Fit India” in which Secretary of State for Health P. Senthil Kumar, Dean of Omanduar Medical College R. Jayanthi, in addition to several unions and states of health officials, doctors and students attended.

State efforts welcomed

The Minister appreciated the Pregnancy Abnormality Screening Center and the government’s efforts to offer diagnostic tests to prenatal mothers to prevent childbirth complications at affordable rates at the government’s multi-specialty hospital of Tamil Nadu. He learned about the robotic surgery facility and interacted with patients being treated for serious sports injuries and trauma.

The state government’s efforts to reduce IMR and MMR and its 94% coverage of the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination and 82% of the second dose are commendable, he said. .

Dr Mandaviya virtually laid the foundation stone for the Central Government Health Scheme Wellness Center in Avadi. The Union government had allocated over ₹2,600 crore for state health under the national health mission and ₹404 crore for the advancement of medical infrastructure under the infrastructure mission Sanitary Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat. Under this scheme, 1.58 crore families in the state were covered and 75 lakh people had availed the benefits, he said.

While it is encouraging that 17 districts in the state are malaria-free and lymphatic filariasis has been eradicated, health officials must remain vigilant and eradicate malaria, chikungunia and dengue fever, he said. declared. “We are committed to making the country malaria-free by 2030,” he said.

“The robust infra, supply chain and IT infrastructure of the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation Medicines Warehouse ensure the uninterrupted availability of essential and life-saving medicines for the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said. he tweeted after a visit to the facility.