Participants at the launch of First IMPACT TB project in Ranchi on Tuesday. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, Dec. 9: The church has come forward to help the state government in controlling the spread of tuberculosis (TB) .

The government will use hospitals and dispensaries of Christian healthcare bodies to identify TB patients and treat them. The state-church joint venture was announced today at a function, “First IMPACT TB Project”, in the state capital.

Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo, the archbishop of Ranchi archdiocese, said due to the presence of coal mines in various parts of the state, the number of TB patients was on the rise every year.

“A joint venture between two or more organisations for a single purpose is globally emerging as the best way to maximise output. The state-church agreement in this regard will definitely yield desirable results,” said Toppo.

The government has a state TB Control Samiti, which identifies tuberculosis patients and distributes free medicines. However, as the government does not have healthcare units in remote villages, its efforts are limited to particular places. The church can play a crucial role here as it has healthcare units even in interior villages. The state will make use of these to control the disease.

Toppo said the church has as many as 275 healthcare units, including 20 big hospitals and 175 dispensaries. These will be used by the state. Besides, there are well over 5,000 persons working with Catholic Health Association in Jharkhand, who will assist the government.

The state TB unit has detected over 35 lakh patients and even treated them in the past eight years. “However, a huge number of cases in the rural belt go undetected. The collaboration with the church will help us keep a tab on such cases,” said R.R. Verma, the state TB officer.

The government has 300 centres where TB diagnosis is done and medicines are distributed. Patients have to take these drugs for six months.