Ranchi, Oct. 4: The World Health Organisation (WHO) officials and the district tuberculosis department have decided to implement a new plan to check the tuberculosis (TB) menace, one of the killer diseases.

Part of the plan is to rope in private doctors and the public so that detection of TB, which is a big problem, becomes more easier, district TB officer S. Prasad said.

“Health experts have realised that for any campaign against TB requires cooperation from the people,” he said.

“It cannot be denied that the majority of patients, including suspected cases of TB, approach a private clinic or doctor for treatment. Those doctors also prescribe medicines for TB. What we are suggesting to them is to refer the TB cases to the government’s sputum examination centres and to our drug distribution centres. This will help poor TB patients who cannot afford to buy medicines,” Prasad said.

Ranchi is one of the 14 districts in the country where anti-TB campaign has been successful. The WHO officials want to improve the campaign in the capital. With a cure rate of above 94 per cent, Ranchi is ahead of the target cure rate of 85 per cent, Prasad said.

Some meetings have been held with private doctors and meetings with NGOs too are in the pipeline, Prasad added.

The direct observation therapy (DOT) programme has been in operation in Ranchi since 2000. But to make DOT more effective it has been suggested to provide monetary incentive to DOT providers and also to private microscope centres where sputum could be examined, the Indian Medical Association state co-ordinator doctor Ajay Kumar Singh said.

Monetary incentive would ensure that a DOT worker keeps a tab on a TB patient under treatment and ensures that he or she takes prescribed medicines on time and thus prevent medical complications, Ajay Kumar Singh said. He said 40 per cent of the state’s population suffer from TB, and that this is the leading killer among women. What is alarming at the national-level is that India has nearly one third of the world’s TB patients, he added.

Ranchi has 523 free drug distribution centres, including 448 in rural areas and 75 in urban areas. There are 35 sputum examination centres too. Therefore with a better c-ordination between health officials, private doctors, non-government organisations and the people, a final push to eradicate the dreaded TB can be given in this district, Prasad said.