CME on Tuberculosis held

Ludhiana, July 28, 2017: Department of Community medicine, DMCH organized the State Task Force RNTCP Workshop and CME on 26.7.17 to discuss the new technical operational guidelines for management of TB released by the Government of India in 2016. Participants included faculty from all the medical colleges of Punjab and RNTCP program managers from the state health services. Sh. Prem Kumar Gupta, Secretary DMCH managing society inaugurated the CME along with Dr Sandeep Puri, Dr Rajoo Singh Chinna, Dr Sandeep Sharma and Dr Sandeep Kaushal. Head of department of Community Medicine, Dr Anurag Chaudhary, welcomed the guests. Dr Manoj Sobti, member Punjab Medical Council, informed the gathering that the council promotes such activities and that no doctor would be unnecessarily harassed. Dr Naresh Sharma, State Program officer RNTCP, congratulated DMCH for taking efforts in organizing such events. Dr Sarit Sharma, chairman STF Punjab and Professor of Community medicine, DMCH, delivered a talk on newer diagnostic algorithms and active case finding which have been introduced into the program now. Dr Ashok Bhardwaj, Zonal task force chairman, delivered a talk on the state task force mechanism and various guidelines for conducting research on TB. Dr Priyanka Agarwal, WHO consultant RNTCP, informed the audience about the methods currently used for diagnosing TB in the control program. The latest treatment guidelines of Tuberculosis were shared with delegates by Dr Ashish Chawla, district TB officer. Under the Revised National TB Control Program, the government is now going to introduce the daily treatment instead of the alternate day treatment. This has already been started in five states and is soon going to be started in Punjab as well. A panel discussion on the latest guidelines was also held which was attended by Dr Sandeep Puri, Dr Akashdeep Singh, Dr Ashok Bhardwaj, Dr Sarit Sharma, Dr Naresh Sharma, Dr Vishal Chopra, Dr Priyanka Agarwal and Dr Ashish Chawla. It was stressed that if we want to control TB in India by 2030, then all of us have to come together and the private sector has to play an important role. This was followed by presentation of status reports regarding TB by nodal officers from various medical colleges. The CME was accredited by Punjab Medical Council with 3 credit hours. Dr Sanjeev Mahajan, Registrar Punjab Medical Council also attended the CME.