Our Experience

NTI Bulletin 1998,34/1*2,20-21

achievement of a high cure rate -under national tuberculosis programme
 

T\uring the supervision visit to DTCs and Pffls of *^Gujarat state by NT! slaff in April 1998, it was observed that in Baroda DTC, for the last quarter of 1996 (i.e. October to December 1996), the analysis on treatment activity snowed a high cure rate of "81%". In order to find out the reasons for this high cure rate, the concerned staff of DTC, Baroda, Mrs SJ Vaidya, Health Visitor, Mrs KS Patel & Mrs DH Joshi, two staff nurses posted at DTC were interviewed.

According to them, an innovative scheme is employed while motivating the patients viz., (1) They are very careful in keeping the disease status 'confidential' in case of young couplet. (2) If the patient is economically weak, monetary help is rendered by way of collecting money from staff members or spending from their own pockets.

 

 

(3) They make arrangements for accommodation even for the slay of patients in "Trusts" like i) Nirmal Samaj, ii) Mother Teresa Trust, iii) Social Welfare Department etc., if problems regarding accommodation is there. (4) They are also taking the help of retired teachers and M.S.W. (Master in social work) students to retrieve the defaulted patients and render health education to patients and their relatives.

All these must have influenced the tuberculosis patients to become regular in their drug collection. The proverb of "where there is a will there is a way" applies to these staff to DTC, Baroda.

                            Dr V H Balasangameshwara
                                           
Chief Medical Officer

QUOTATIONS                                                                                              i

Time and health are two precious assets that we don't recognise and appreciate until they have been depleted.

Fault finding without suggestion for improvement is a waste of time.
—Compiled by : Sudha S Murthy

The purpose of reading is to accept knowledge from every thing that we read and to draw
lessons from it.                                                                          Mahatma Gandhi

You cannot be a writer unless you are a reader first
Harry Golden

Coming together is beginning, keeping together is progress and working together
is
success.
Henry Ford