Keonjhar: The Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) and Public Health Officer (PHO) here Tuesday launched the distribution of nutritional support for tuberculosis (TB) patients in Keonjhar district.
The matter came to the fore after the CDMO Dr Kishore Kumar Prusty launched the programme from Naranpur health sub-centre in Keonjhar block. This has become possible after the district mineral foundation (DMF) adopted all the TB patients undergoing treatment in Keonjhar district.
As part of this programme, nutritional support will be provided via food baskets to TB patients undergoing treatment in various hospitals in the district. As a result, 1354 TB patients will be benefited for which the DMF will spend around Rs 400 crore annually.
The programme will soon be available in all the health sub-centres where nutritional support will be provided to TB patients on dates seven or 21 of every month
A whopping amount of Rs 12.3 crores has been sanctioned under DMF for ‘Nutritional Support to the TB patients’ in Keonjhar for a period of 3 years.
The DLF, Mission Shakti has been assigned to procure food baskets, and ensure the quality of food items and delivery to each patient under treatment for a period of six months during their treatment.
Speaking on the occasion, the CDMO said that the district has been included in the TB-free India campaign and plans to eradicate the disease by 2025. Currently, 1354 TB patients are undergoing treatment. The district-level federation of Mission Shakti has been assigned the task of doorstep supply of the nutritional food basket to TB patients for a minimum period of six months.
The DMF and the district administration endeavours to adopt a just, humane, and sensitive approach to ensure that vulnerable TB patients are provided with nutritional support which shall help provide the much-needed dietary requirement fostering recovery.
As per the reports, Keonjhar is among the top four districts with a large number of TB patients. In Keonjhar district, more than 2,000 TB patients are identified whereas 1,354 patients are on treatment.
Among others, additional district public health officer (ADPHO)-TB, DPC Mission Shakti, District Programme Manager (DPM), NHM, Keonjhar, and President District Level Federation (DLF), Mission Shakti along with representatives from District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Keonjhar were present during the launch of the programme.
PNN