PADMA AWARDEES Join to defeat TB in India

Various Padma celebrities joined hands in the ‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega’ movement. Padma awardees Ms. Uma Shankar, Shri Ashok Chakradhar, Shri Sudhir Telang, Shri Vinod Dua, Dr K K Aggarwal, Dr Madan Mohan, Dr Yash Gulati, Dr Alka Kriplani, Dr S Rawat, Dr Rajesh Grover and Dr A K Bhalla gathered under one roof and joined the TB awareness movement initiated by Indian Medical Association in association with Central TB Division under DGHS.

They collectively signed and released the message ‘TB Haarega Desh Jeetega’ and ‘Swachh Bharat Swasth Bharat TB Mukt Bharat’.

Speaking on the occasion Dr K K Aggarwal and Mr. Ashok Chakradhar said that Dr. Jagdish Prasad, Shri Pandit Birju Maharaj ji Ms. Sonal Mansingh, Ms. Geeta Chandran, Ms. Shovna Narayan and Shri Satpal Pahalwan have also joined the social movement against tuberculosis.

Today one fourth of all global TB cases occur in India every year. In 2013 twenty one lacs TB patients occurred in India. The prevalence of TB in India is 211 per lac population and i.e. 26 lacs annually. The incidence of TB per lac population is 171. The death due to TB occur in 19 per lac population. In total 2.4 lacs people die of TB in India every year.

All the Padma Awardees in a joint statement said that every celebrity in the country should dedicate each and every of their show to a social cause.

It was decided by Padma celebrity Forum that Swach Bharat Swasthya Bharat movement will be their priority as it is linked to the growth of the nation in general and the healthy environmental status in particular.

Dr. Jagdish Prasad, DGHS said that no one should ignore any cough of more than 2 weeks in duration. They further said that TB is no more a stigma. All contacts of TB patients should be checked, as they may be infectious before it clinically manifest as TB.