J&K admin committed to eliminate TB: Manoj Sinha

Jammu, Dec 20: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, at a high-level meeting on Saturday, reviewed the implementation and progress of Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan in the UT of Jammu Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by Atal Dulloo, Chief Secretary; Dr Mandeep K. Bhandari, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor; Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Secretary, Health and Medical Education; Baseer UI Haq Chaudhary, Mission Director, NHM J&K; Deputy Commissioners; Heads of Medical & Health institutions and departments and other senior officials.
The Lieutenant Governor reaffirmed the UT Administration’s commitment to the national goal of tuberculosis elimination.
He emphasised on conducting a deep analysis of TB-related cases, and treatment outcomes. He called for seamless inter-departmental coordination and a robust community-based support system to ensure no patient is left behind.
The Lieutenant Governor directed the Health Department and District Administrations to ramp-up testing and prioritizing the mapping of vulnerable populations.
He further directed for intensifying Door to Door IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) campaign to educate the public on symptoms, diagnostics, and the availability of treatment.
District Administrations were directed to adopt best practices to achieve the goal of TB Mukt Jammu Kashmir and TB Mukt Bharat.
The meeting also discussed the District-wise status of Treatment Outcome, Presumptive TB Testing Rate, TB Case Notification & Drug-resistant TB Cases, Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY) Status, Ni-kshay Mitra Initiative, saturation of Ayushman Bharat Golden cards with special focus on covering all TB patients, incentivisation of ASHAs, implementation of ‘One Patient – One Ni-kshay Mitra’ model, procurements of treatment and testing equipment.
It was informed that J&K has achieved the 99% coverage (28,62,686 individuals) in Vulnerable Population.
Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Secretary, Health and Medical Education gave a detailed presentation on performance of Jammu Kashmir on various Parameters under National TB Elimination Programme. He also presented an Action Taken Report on directives passed in the previous meeting.