Kashmir Media Watch Disclosure
Each year, we commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
Kashmir is witnessing record decline in Tuberculosis cases. Recently, the State TB Officer, Dr Rehana Kousar said in 2020 Kashmir reported 2836 TB cases, which is a record decrease in the past three years.
She said in 2019 as many as 4080 TB notifications were reported while 4774 cases were reported in 2018.
On the other hand, The efforts of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for control of Tuberculosis has been appreciated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as Jammu and Kashmir shall receive two awards under Category 1 and Category 4 during the event.
In category 1 at district level, District Budgam has been selected as TB free district in the country and shall be awarded during the event for more than 80% reduction in TB incidences from 2015 baseline. In category 4 in district level, district Udhampur shall be awarded bronze medal for more than 20% reduction in TB incidence from 2015 baseline.
The RNTCP (Revised National Tuberculosis Programme) associated employees from Kashmir have played a prominent role in this regard. They have risked their lives to eliminate TB from Jammu and Kashmir but with little rewards.
These healthcare workers feel that the administration seems least interested in their issues and they continue to face injustice and inequality in comparison with their counterparts in the regular establishments.
Since 1997, when the project was launched, these contractual workers have been denied basic monetary perks including the much-deserved risk allowance. This is because the government has so far not yielded to their demand for regularisation.
One hopes the efforts of these RNTCP warriors would be lauded .
