Our goal is to make the State and the country Tuberculosis-free by 2025, and we are making all efforts to achieve this, said State TB Officer and Medical Health and Family Welfare Joint Director T. Ramesh, after flagging off a TB awareness rally organised by the NTR district administration in Vijayawada to observe World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on Sunday.
Mr. Ramesh said it was important for people to know the symptoms at the beginning itself. “The country reports 24% of the world’s total TB cases. At the State level, we are doing our bit by conducting more than 10 lakh Truenat and CBNAAT tests in a year. ,” Mr. Ramesh said.
The BCG vaccination programme for adults will help prevent adults from contracting the infection. The programme will be piloted in 12 districts this year, he said. The government is also distributing nutrition kits among TB patients, he added. “So far, we have distributed more than 95,000 kits in the State,” Mr. Ramesh said.
Later, NTR District TB Officer J. Usharani said many Nikshay Mitras (volunteers who take care of TB patients’ nutritional needs) were identified in the district to provide nutrition kits to patients.
After the rally concluded, an awareness programme was organised at the Indian Medical Association office, where patients were given kits comprising medicines and nutritional food.
