State Task Force (RNTCP) Meeting cum CME Punjab held at DMCH

Ludhiana, April 8, 2016: The State Task Force Meeting cum CME of Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) was held today at DMCH. The meeting began with an inauguration session by lighting lamp by the Chief Guest Dr. Mrs. Renu Chatwal Civil Surgeon, Dr.Rohit Sareen Director NITRD Delhi, Dr. Jai Krishan, Chairman State Task Force Punjab, Dr.Naresh Sharma,SPO, Dr Sandeep Puri Principal DMCH and Dr. Updesh Sidhu,Professor & Head Pulmonary Medicine.

Dr.Renu Chatwal, Chief Guest on the occasion said that this Program is already running sucessfuly in Ludhiana where inputs from DMCH are highly appreciated in identifying the TB cases. Dr Updesh Sidhu, HOD Pulmonary Medicine DMCH extended warm welcome to all the participants from various medical colleges of the state.

Dr.Jai Kishan, Chairman STF , Punjab requested all the medical colleges to come together to eradicate this disease. He further requested the medical colleges to come forward and tell if any more help is required to make this program a big success. He emphasized more on diagnosing the cases which are yet not identified.

Dr.Rohit Sareen, Director NITRD Delhi appreciated the support received from various medical colleges of the state in streamlining the mechanism by taking crucial and timely decisions as well as facilitating actions on the recommendations of various committees.

It was mentioned that most of the medical colleges in the state have DOTS Centre under RNTCP, which has now become an integral part of under-graduate and post-graduate teaching curriculum. During the meeting, it was emphasized that much is required to be done in MDR TB, TB-HIV, Operational Research on Tuberculosis and diagnosis of Extra Pulmonary TB. The meeting cum CME was awarded 4 credit hours from Punjab Medical Council.

Detailed lectures were given on topics like Health Workers surveillance for TB in India,MDP TB Mangement, Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Recent updates in RNTCP. A comprehensive presentation of status report for 4th Quarter, 2015 of activities of different medical colleges under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was made and critically evaluated.

Dr.Sandeep Puri said that tuberculosis has always remained a worldwide public health problem but with the advancements in the field of medicine, highly effective drugs are now available, making TB a preventable and curable disease.

According to the recent estimates, there are 15-20 million cases of infectious TB in the world. This infectious pool is maintained by the occurrence of 7.25 million new cases and three million deaths each year. The advanced countries have achieved spectacular results in the control of TB, while the problem is acute in developing countries which account for about 95 per cent of TB cases, with South-east Asia region, Western pacific and Africa being the worst affected regions.