SRINAGAR:The J&K Revised National TB Control Programme employees association (RNTCP) Kashmir province held a sit in candle light demonstration at press enclave residency road on 23rd march 2012 in order to pay Homage to those dead employees who served in TB control programme (RNTCP) and sacrificed their lives while serving to TB patients and to meet their genuine unmet long pending demands like regularization of the contractual services and enhancement of salary as per sixth pay commission.
To protect people from TB ,Government of India launched Revised National TB Control Prograame in 1993, which was implemented in the Jammu& Kashmir state in 2004.
Accordingly, about 170 youth were engaged in the RNTCP programme under contractual engagement after satisfying the required qualification criteria.
Exposed to high risk of getting infected from Tb Patients many a contractual employees are themselves suffering from the disease.Having made great sacrifices, the RNTCP employees of the J&K state are still not regularized.While as in number of states like Tamil Nadu & Himachal Pradesh the services of RNTCP Employees have been regularized.The employes are also demanding the pay enhancement under the sixth pay commission which they have not been given.
It is worth mentioning here that in India TB kills more adults in the most productive age group, (15-54 years) than any other infectious disease, almost 370000 die every year.
As far as the state of Jammu Kashmir is concerned still thousands of patients here suffer from this deadly disease. But since the implementation of Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) or also known as DOTS in the state the situation has improved considerably.Prior to implementation of DOTS the cure rate was just 30 percent and now it is 85 percent.
The world TB day is celebrated every year on the 24th March, but on this eve the scenario of RNTCP employees of the state continues to remain bleak.(KMW NEWS)
