CHENNAI: The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH) has instructed the people belonging to the vulnerable population — estimated to be 2.16 crore — to get tested for the disease during the 100-day TB elimination campaign that commenced on December 7.
During a review meeting on December 20, the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr T S Selvavinayagam requested coordination between directorates, including the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, to cover the 2.16 crore vulnerable population mapped by the districts and to record the same in the portal.
The vulnerable population include people diagnosed with diabetes, smokers and alcoholics, said the director, who chaired the meeting alongside the managing director of the Tamil Nadu National Health Mission. “We have a list of patients with diabetes. We instruct them to get tested at primary health centres (PHCs) for tuberculosis,” he added.
The DPH instructed the identification of the vulnerable population, as per the Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam list, down to health sub-centres and mapped to the respective PHCs. The DPH suggested referring asymptomatic vulnerable populations for chest X-rays and sputum tests.