Last week, the United States Ambassador to India, Richard Varma launched the ‘Mumbai Dialogue: Towards a TB-free India’ along with Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts. The Call to Action for a TB-Free India campaign is an initiative led by GoI to engage corporate, civil society and community leaders to end TB in the country. The call to action will culminate in a National Summit in March 2016.

Aiming to engage the corporate sector to further strengthen the Government of India’s ‘Call to Action for a tuberculosis free India,’ a group of corporate leaders joined the trio for a dialogue to engage this sector directly in effort to eradicate TB. TB has been one of the deadliest diseases in India. As per the figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) global TB report 2014, around 2.40 lakh Indians die every year and 61,000 suffer from multidrug resistant TB.

But I can’t get TB
Mr. Amitabh Bachan’s involvement in the campaign comes as no surprise; he was a TB patient himself. Back in 2000, when ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ was at its peak, with the ever green actor as its charismatic host. Many didn’t know that Mr. Bachan was diagnosed with TB. As he thinks back he says, “If this disease can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.” Mr. Bachan also clarified that the stigma associated with TB for most people is that they have a feeling of false empowerment and immunity to the disease. A kind of “I can’t get TB” falsely programmed into their minds. He states that he too was shocked when he learnt that he had the dreaded disease.

Industrialist and philanthrophist Ratan Tata puts it into perspective by saying, “This disease does not differentiate between the rich and poor, it is a significant economic drain on the latter section. It results in discrimination at schools, workplaces and within societies. We will do everything possible in our capacity to make this battle against TB, a success.To me, it is more than just a campaign. It’s an issue being involved in a national cause. TB has been a silent killer in the country and has assumed proportions that most of us should be extremely concerned about. As a citizen of the country I feel very committed to play my role, however big or small it might be to help in this partnership with the government,”

Ambassador Mr. Varma supported the cause by saying, “United States has invested close to $100 million in last 18 years to prevent and control TB. It has helped over 15 million people. But still a lot needs to be done and only government alone cannot do it as it needs multi-sectoral approach, in which public and private partners need to collaborate,”

Significance for Doctors
This initiative is of significant importance to doctors as well, because many doctors who treat and deal with have been lost recently to the TB menace across India. In fact even Mr. Bachan acknowledged this in saying,“While we all have a role to play, I must say that those who work on ground to detect TB patients and treat them are very important in this fight.” In light of the struggles with dengue in the nation’s capital, this initiative to tackle TB shows promise, hope and puts a certain amount of confidence in the countries doctors as well.

Original Post – The Hindu, Huffington Post
Image Credit(s) – The Hindu, NDTV

   Send article as PDF