'Edu institutes must create awareness on diseases'

MYSURU: Mysuru zilla panchayat president B Pushpa Amarnath has said that awareness programmes on TB and other health issues should reach rural people.
After inaugurating a programme to commemorate World TB Day and a seminar on TB organized by the district health office here on Tuesday, the president said that though the authorities concerned are striving to ensure better health to people, there is a need to educate people in rural areas."Educational activities must contribute towards preventing diseases," she added.
According to a data, over 50,000 Indians are suffering from TB, and one life is lost to the disease every three minutes, she said, stressing on treatment and medicine facilities. "Medicines have been made available in all government medical stores and the use of technology is more efficient in preventing such diseases. There is a need to take necessary steps to rid the country of TB," she added.
Earlier in the day, students of Gopal Gowda Nursing College, Kavery Nursing College, Vidyavardhaka Nursing College, BGS Nursing College and other medical colleges took out a rally. Hundreds of students, holding placards carrying messages on TB, created awareness on the disease. District health officer (DHO) H T Puttaswamy flagged off the rally which passed through the main streets of the city.
Mysuru Urban Development Authority chief K R Mohan Kumar, taluk panchyat president G Kumar, vice-president Lokamani, Puttaswamy, Mysore Medical College professor Dr H M Virupaksha and others were present.
80% patients recovered
The health department has diagnosed 7,511 people, including 47 children, with tuberculosis in the last three years. However, 80% of them have recovered, said district TB controller Dr C Suvarna. Under the Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) Dots Plus programme, launched in 2000, thousands of patients suffering from HIV and TB have been treated for no cost. The number of people diagnosed with TB in 2013, 2014 and 2015 stands at 3,583, 3,411 and 517, in that order.