In its attempt to galvanise corporates to contribute to the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP) in Haryana, Medanta Hospital Wednesday organised a multi-stakeholder event engaging corporates and government stakeholders and launched the “Adopt a District” campaign.
The event was launched by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar along with doctors and officials from Medanta who announced the “Adopt a District” initiative and inaugurated the Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (DRTB) clinic at the hospital in Gurgaon.
Speaking on the occasion, Haryana CM Khattar said the need to scale up access to therapy is the way forward.
“We have made significant progress in strengthening the infrastructure for TB treatment in Haryana. However, we must recognise that to scale-up access to therapy, private-public partnerships and multi-stakeholder models are the way forward. Collaboration with Medanta and launch of ‘Adopt a District’ initiative is a step towards achieving the National Goal of TB elimination by 2025,” he added.
Officials said the objective of the ‘Adopt a District’ initiative will be to encourage each corporate to support at least one district of Haryana, allowing them to assist the state bridge the gap in TB care services.
They said that the programme will strengthen and support the robust NTEP that works to detect TB in the unscreened population and establish linkages between identified patients, and the government healthcare and treatment services.
Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director of Medanta, said the Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (DRTB) clinic at Medanta, Gurugram will operate in close collaboration with the Central, State and District Tuberculosis Divisions to enhance access to the most advanced TB therapy available in the country.
“TB treatment regimens are lengthy, making it difficult for patients to follow through. They also leave the treatment halfway because of a lack of access to therapy, which puts them at risk of developing multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. The DRTB Clinic will provide patients with end-to-end clinical and infrastructural support, minimising the gap between TB detection and treatment,” added Dr Trehan.
He said that it will offer TB screening, diagnosis, government-approved advanced treatment therapeutics, regular patient monitoring and follow-ups. The outcomes will be recorded and reported as per the government guideline.
Addressing the event, Dr Trehan said that timely screening, detection and treatment play a crucial role in the prevention and management of Tuberculosis.
“Currently, a vast majority of patients go undetected and untreated in India, significantly increasing the disease burden. TB is a serious challenge that has been plaguing the nation. Launch of ‘Adopt a District’ initiative and the DRTB Clinic under the supervision of the Government reflects our commitment to eradicate TB from India with concerted, consistent efforts in this direction.”
