Govt aims to eradicate TB by 2023

The state health department has now shifted it focus towards eradicating the problem and has set itself a target of 2023, to achieve this,with as many as 17,000 new cases of tuberculosis being identified in Telangana every year.

In its attempt at reaching its target, a daily supplementation programme for distributing free medicines was launched by health minister C Laxma Reddy at the TB Training Centre at Erragada on Monday . Telangana will implement the daily regimen from October 25.

Staffers' training for technical and



operational guidelines (ToG) has already been completed, officials said. A letter has also been sent to all districts to complete recruitment of sanctioned Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) posts.

While earlier DOTS (directly observed treatment short course) therapy medicines were distributed on alternate days, it has now been upgraded to a daily medicine. The daily doze is preferred, officials said, as it combines four drugs into one pill, which can be tailored according to body weight.