Jaipur, September 3. Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma said that the State Government is making all possible efforts to make Rajasthan free from tuberculosis (TB) prior to 2025. TB patients will be identified by conducting tests at an extensive level during the health camps to be organised in the State in November.
Dr Sharma on Thursday virtually attended the launch programme to give pace to active case finding campaign and Nikshay Poshan Yojana presided by Union Health Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya. Health Minister and senior officers from all States were present in this programme organised under National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme.
The Health Minister said that the State Government is constantly making efforts to increase the reach of health services to the general public. In this series, special health camps will be organised at 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 expedite the work of identifying TB patients and patients would get treatment on time.
Dr Sharma said that Active Case Finding (ACF) campaign is going on from 2017 to identify TB patients in the State. After its launching, further pace will be brought to this campaign. He said that 96,823 TB cases in the State were notified on Nikshay portal till now in 2021, whereas 1.37 lakh cases were notified in 2020. This year due to corona, the identification of TB patients remained slow. He said that further pace would be given in the coming months. He said that at present 72,000 TB patients are undergoing treatment in the State.
The Health Minister said that TB patients during the treatment are given Rs 500 per month under Nikshay Poshan Yojana. The State Government in 2020 paid Rs 25.05 crore to 96,394 TB patients and in 2021 till now has paid Rs 8.20 crore to around 48,000 beneficiaries.
Dr Sharma requested Union Health Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya to ensure availability of equipment used in identification of TB patients. He said 60 CBNAAT and 60 Truenat machines are available in the State for testing TB, whereas the process of outsourcing more than 100 machines has been started. He said that Rajasthan geographically is the largest State in the country where resources are needed more. Therefore, he requested the Central Government to provide three mobile vans and an additional CBNAAT equipped mobile van to Rajasthan. He also informed the Union Health Minister about the shortage of cartridges used in CBNAAT machines. He said every year 1.50 lakh cartridges are required in the State. In such a situation, the Centre should make available the cartridges as it did earlier.
The Health Minister said that the State has developed the basic infrastructure to administer 15 lakh corona vaccines per day. He requested Union Health Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya to provide vaccines as per the capacity. He said that the State is making its preparations anticipating the third wave of corona. He said that the department has arranged generation plants to concentrators for the availability of 1000 metric tonne medical oxygen. He said that the number of beds in NICU, PICU, SNCU and ICU is being continuously increased in children’s hospitals. Along with this, basic infrastructure has also been strengthened in the selected 332 Community Health Centres, so that there is no burden of patients in the district level medical institutions and the general public can get the medical facilities within their vicinity.
