Ranchi: Jharkhand Health Minister Irfan Ansari on Thursday announced that the state government has set a target to eliminate tuberculosis (TB) from the state by 2029.
He said the government has been working in this direction on a war footing.
“TB elimination is not just a government programme, but it must become a people’s movement. Until every section of society participates in it, it will not be possible to eradicate this disease from its roots,” Ansari said while addressing a two-day National Task Force (NTF) meeting under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) here.
Professors from medical colleges, public health experts, researchers, and policy makers from all 35 states and Union territories of the country participated in the national event here.
The minister said Ranchi will be developed as a medical tourism hub in the future, and the state government is working rapidly toward the construction of RIMS-2, which will be among Asia’s largest hospitals.
Ansari said the state government is promoting the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technologies in the health sector, so that patients can receive better and faster healthcare services.
Mission Director, Jharkhand, of the National Health Mission, Shashi Prakash said that a special campaign is being run in the state for TB elimination.
“”X-ray-based screening of high-risk groups is being conducted to ensure timely identification of every patient. Currently, around 38,500 TB patients are undergoing treatment in the state, and 455 panchayats have already been declared TB-free. The government’s target is to make all panchayats in the state TB-free,” he added.
