'Centre working to eradicate tuberculosis'

The Central tuberculosis division has taken several measures to eradicate the disease from the country with a patient-centred approach, said Dr Kuldeep Singh Sachdeva, Deputy Director General – Central TB Division from the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

He was speaking at a national tuberculosis conference at the Dr TMA Pai Hall in Manipal on Saturday.

Dr Singh stressed on the involvement of medical colleges for the implementation of TB programme and the importance of doing research in association with the Public Health Department so that all efforts are patient-centric.

Institutions of eminence like MAHE should play a larger role in steering the country towards a TB-free nation, he added.

Dr Vishwa Mohan Katoch, NASI-ICMR Chair on Public Health Research, RUHS, Jaipur, spoke on the various research opportunities in the field of TB and the need to publish research data.

The conference was preceded by a one-day hands-on workshop on the various laboratory tools for diagnosing TB and detecting drug resistance in tubercle bacilli, on Friday.

Organised by the Department of Microbiology, at the Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, the theme of the conference was, “Towards TB Elimination: Vision of the Nation.”

The topics discussed during the day-long deliberations included epidemiology, clinical perspectives and diagnostics in both adult and paediatric tuberculosis.

Dr Poornima Baliga B, Pro-Vice Chancellor, MAHE, stressed the need for research benefitting the community at large.

Dr Kiran Chawla, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology welcomed the gathering. Dr Pragna Rao, Dean, KMC, Manipal highlighted the need for exposure towards TB research among undergraduate students.

Dr Somashekar N, Director, NTI, Bengaluru, commended KMC, Manipal for its good work in community health and TB case notification. The Microbiology Department was awarded RNTCP accreditation by National Tuberculosis Institute, Bengaluru, for first-line drug-resistant testing by line probe assay on this day by the NTI director.