Walking the Last Mile in TB
Abstract
India has the highest burden of tuberculosis. In 2009 out of the estimated global annual incidence of 9.4 million TB cases 2 million were estimated to occur in India.1 The TB problem is further compounded by the existence of drug resistant TB, HIV associated TB and several socio economic and health factors that promote continued transmission of the disease.
To achieve TB free India, RNTCP has now adopted a new vision document for the 12th five year plan (2012-17). Aiming for universal access the programme plans to reach the unreached by
Early detection and treatment of at least 90 % of estimated TB cases in the community, including HIV – associated TB;
Initial screening of all re- treatment smear- positive TB patients for drug – resistant TB and provision of treatment services for MDR- TB patients;
Offer of HIV counseling and testing for all TB patients and linking HIV- infected TB patients to HIV care and support;
Successful treatment of at least 90 % of all new TB patients, and at least 85 % of all previously treated TB patients;
Extended RNTCP services to patients diagnosed and treated in the private sector.
Private Doctors and hospitals have the right and duty to participate in the national programme. It is time that Govt. walks that extra mile to take them along. PPM needs an institution different from the Govt hierarchy. It is an established fact that PPM needs an interface. PPM needs dedicated staff and budget flowing through this interface. IMA has been involved in PPM DOTS for the past two decades. Through IMA GFAT M RNTCP project it has sensitized 70325 and trained 12232 private doctors. 4031 DOT centers and 66 DMC shave come up in in private clinics and hospitals.
When publishing with Kerala Medicial Journal (KMJ), authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Work includes the material submitted for publication and any other related material submitted to KMJ. In the event that KMJ does not publish said work, the author(s) will be so notified and all rights assigned hereunder will revert to the author(s).
The assignment of rights to KMJ includes but is not expressly limited to rights to edit, publish, reproduce, distribute copies, include in indexes or search databases in print, electronic, or other media, whether or not in use at the time of execution of this agreement.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
The author(s) hereby represents and warrants that they are sole author(s) of the work, that all authors have participated in and agree with the content and conclusions of the work, that the work is original, and does not infringe upon any copyright, propriety, or personal right of any third party, and that no part of it nor any work based on substantially similar data has been submitted to another publication.
