Medical and Health Minister Dr. Raghu Sharma has said that the state government is making every effort to make the state TB free before 2025. In the health camps organized in the coming November in the state, TB patients will be identified after conducting extensive tests.
Dr. Sharma was participating in the launch program to give impetus to the Active Case Finding Campaign and the Nikshay Poshan Yojana campaign organized virtually under the chairmanship of Union Health Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday. Health ministers and senior officials of all the states of the country were present in this program organized under the National Tuberculosis Eradication Program.
Last will be brought in the identification of TB patients
The Medical Minister said that the State Government is making continuous efforts to increase the accessibility of health services to the common man. In this sequence, special health camps will be organized at the panchayat headquarters of the state in the month of November. In this, along with other tests, the facility of TB test will also be made available. He said that this would speed up the work of identification of TB patients and timely treatment to the patients.
ACF campaign continues since 2017
Dr. Sharma informed that active case finding campaign is going on since the year 2017 for identification of TB patients in the state. After its launch, more momentum will be brought to this campaign. He said that so far 96 thousand 823 TB cases have been notified on the NIKSHA portal in the year 2021 in the state, whereas in the year 2020, 1 lakh 37 thousand cases were notified. This year the identification of TB patients was slow due to corona. He said that more momentum would be given in the coming months. He informed that at present 72,000 patients are taking TB treatment in the state.
Continuous payment to the beneficiaries
The Medical Minister said that under the Nikshay Poshan Yojana, Rs 500 per month is given to TB patients during treatment. The state government has paid Rs 25.05 crore to 96 thousand 394 tuberculosis patients in the year 2020 and Rs 8 crore 20 lakh to about 48 thousand beneficiaries so far in the year 2021.
Availability of mobile van and cartridge is necessary
Dr. Sharma urged the Union Medical and Health Minister Mr. Mansukh Mandaviya to ensure the availability of equipment used for the identification of TB patients in the program. He said that 60 CBNot and 60 TrueNot machines are available for TB test in the state. While the outsourcing process of more than 100 machines has been started. He said that Rajasthan is the largest state of the country from the geographical point of view, where resources are also needed more. Therefore, the Central Government also urged to provide 3 mobile vans and one additional mobile van with CB notch to Rajasthan. He informed the Union Health Minister about the shortage of cartridges used in CB not machines. He said that there is a need of 1.50 lakh cartridges every year in the state. In such a situation, as before, cartridges should be made available by the center itself.
Demand to provide adequate number of vaccines
The Health Minister said that the state has taken up the infrastructure for administering 15 lakh corona vaccines per day. He urged the Union Health Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya to make available the vaccine as per the capacity. He said that the state government is busy in its preparations in view of the possibility of third wave of corona. He said that the department has also made arrangements from the production plant to the concentrator for the availability of 1000 metric tonnes of medical oxygen. He said that Neeku, Piku, SNCU are also available in children's hospitals. And the number of ICU beds is continuously increasing. Along with this, the infrastructure has also been strengthened in the identified 332 CHCs, so that there is no burden of patients in the district level medical institutions and the general public can get medical facilities near by.