PATNA: The second phase of Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was rolled out in Bihar on Sunday with its launch in 19 districts, including Bhagalpur, Banka, Khagaria and Begusarai districts.
According to a doctor associated with the programme, TB kills around 40,000 people annually in Bihar, while over 1.50 lakh new cases are detected every year in the state.
Based on the Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) strategy, RNTCP began as a pilot project in 1993 and was launched as a national programme in 1997. However, the first phase of the programme was launched in Bihar in 2010.
Dr A K Thakur, state co-ordinator for the 19 districts, said, “Bihar IMA, along with 14 other state IMAs, were assigned the work of implementing RNTCP in their respective states in 2010. The state chapters of IMA were involved in TB eradication drive as it was found that doctors as well as patients preferred daily therapy treatment for curing the disease.” He said the IMA was assigned the work of creating awareness and motivating patients as well as doctors to go for DOTS way of treatment for curing TB.
Though the Union health ministry had in 2007 itself tied up with the state IMA for TB eradication, it was on an experimental basis.
The tie-up was expanded last year, said Dr Thakur.
He further said the state TB cell of the health department was divided into two units for the purpose – Unit 1 and 2. The IMA’s national chapter had appointed one consultant each for both the units, Dr Thakur said and added that both had undergone two weeks’ training in Bangalore. These two work in tandem with seven WHO consultants appointed for the state who know the whole process of RNTCP, he said.
With the launch of the second phase, IMA secretaries of each district have been made district co-ordinators. They would be helping the district tuberculosis officers (DTOs) of every district, Dr Thakur said.
“In RNTCP, both the proportion of TB cases confirmed in laboratory and the cure rate are more than double the previous programme,” he said.
Since 1997, after the success of a pilot project, DOTS was implemented in India as RNTCP. It was found that Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDRTB) was a result of poor management of TB patients.
DOTS was launched to prevent the emergence of MDRTB and to reverse its trend.
Read more:Â Anti-TB drive rolled out in 19 dists – The Times of India