Jammu, Dec 30, KDC: Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), Jammu and Kashmir, Baseer Ul Haq Chaudhary on Tuesday visited the Chest Diseases Hospital (CD Hospital), Jammu to take stock of patient care for TB and MDR-TB cases under the National TB Elimination Programme and TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.
During the visit, Baseer Ul Haq Chaudhary held detailed discussions with Dr. Rahul Gupta, Head of Department, Chest Medicine, and Dr. Rakesh Sharma, Medical Superintendent of CD Hospital, on strengthening clinical protocols, treatment workflows, and monitoring mechanisms to achieve the target of TB elimination. He reviewed operational modalities, treatment safeguards, and institutional preparedness for addressing drug-resistant TB cases.
The Mission Director later toured the MDR-TB wards, interacting directly with admitted patients and their caregivers. He underscored the importance of early diagnosis, immediate treatment initiation, and rigorous follow-up, stating that sustained patient monitoring is key to curbing the community spread of MDR-TB and reducing the disease burden.
Chaudhary also inspected the Intermediary Reference Laboratory (IRL), reviewing diagnostic quality, testing capacity, and case follow-up systems, with focus on expanding quality-assured and reliable TB diagnostics for both detection and treatment surveillance.
He assured patients and hospital authorities of full administrative and programmatic support, including continued care during hospitalization and post-discharge follow-up in the community.
Senior health officials accompanying the Mission Director included Dr. Harjeet Rai, State Nodal Officer NHM, Dr. Harbaksh Singh, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Jammu, Dr. Jyoti Jolly, State TB Officer, Jammu Division, and Dr. Anu Suloch, District TB Officer (DTO), Jammu, besides other programme officers and medical staff.
The visit forms part of NHM J&K’s intensified district-level monitoring to align institutional and community health responses with the national mission of making India TB-free. (KDC)