Every three minutes, two persons get infected by tuberculosis in the country, said Dr J Arivoli, Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services (TB) and State TB officer, here on Tuesday.
He was addressing a gathering of over 400 NCC cadets from various colleges in the city at a national seminar on ‘Role of Youth in Nation Building’ organised by 1(TN) Armd Sqn NCC at the Dwaraka Doss Goverdhan Doss Vaishnav College. It was then that he said that about 20,000 people were infected with tuberculosis in the country in the last three months and that one needed to continue medication for about six months.
He said though a large section of the population in the country consisted of youth, the country still lacked in the field of health and economy. Many villages in the country do not have basic sanitation facilities and people need awareness to prevent communicable diseases from spreading, he added.
The State TB officer encouraged young cadets to conduct regular camps in rural areas to create awareness on communicable diseases, prevention and treatment among people.
The seminar comprised three technical sessions including a session on youth individualisation in the nation development by L Hemachandran, principal consultant- Strategy, MA FOI Connecting Dots Advisory. R Sathya, Director, Sathya IAS Academy, spoke on the job opportunities in government, followed by a presentation by Col Rakesh Menon, Col A (DV), Area HQ, Chennai on the opportunities in defence.
The young cadets also clarified their doubts on the recruitment process in the defence forces. Cadets who won the various competitions conducted during the day were also presented with certificates. S Narasimhan, Principal, DG Vaishnav and Captain S Santhosh Baboo, NCC officer were also present at the event.