Chandigarh: Mission Director, National Health Mission Punjab Dr. Abhinav Trikha held a meeting with the officials of 30 corporate bodies to achieve the 2025 target for the TB Free India campaign. The meeting was held at the office of National Health Mission Punjab, Pariyas Building, in which representatives of major corporate organizations from Punjab participated. He appealed to them to cooperate for the eradication of TB as a Corporate Social Responsibility.
Meanwhile, Dr. Abhinav Trikha said that TB is curable. It is treated for 6-9 months. It is necessary to take the medicine continuously throughout this treatment and not interrupt the treatment between sessions. Therefore, to help the patient the corporation can help the government on 3 major topics. It can include diagnostics, nutrition help, and vocational help. The corporate body should adopt TB patients in the district, block, or other any number of patients for nutritional support and ensure that patient does not leave the treatment midway and can serve the society by getting complete treatment. The spread of the disease causes economic and social losses. Corporate bodies who wish to help TB patients can register themselves on the Nikshey portal. He said that a total of 2862 TB patients from 4 districts of Punjab have been adopted by Fortis Healthcare Limited, including 256 patients from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawan Shahr), 456 patients from Rupnagar, 1442 patients of S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) and 708 patients of Hoshiarpur are included, and all the TB patients of these districts will be given nutrition assistance.
Dr. Abhinav Trikha said that there are about 45000 TB patients in Punjab and the government provides help for the treatment of TB patients. In addition to free treatment, tests, and medicines, the patient is provided with nutritional food worth Rs.500/- per month throughout the treatment.
Also corporates can help in creating awareness among public regarding early detection, treatment and prevention of TB. They can support the Government in expanding diagnostic facilities by providing molecular diagnosis machines and mobile x-ray units.
On this occasion, State Program Officer (TB) Dr. Rajesh Bhaskar, State TB HIV Coordinator. Dr. Kiran Chhabra, World Health Organization Consultant Dr. Pooja Kapoor, Technical Specialist of the union organization Dr. Shadab, representative of the union Dr. Abhimanyu, and other officials were present.