| OUR EXPERIENCE
NTI Bulletin 2001, 37/1-4, Story
of a Shopkeeper who has chosen to be DOT provider (Gurgaon- Haryana) This is a story of Yashpal Pulani who owns a shoe shop in Shivaji Park, Gurgaon in Haryana. He himself is a cured TB patient. So motivated he was with the new strategy of TB control programme that he decided to contribute to the success of the programme by being a DOT provider for others in the locality. Yashpal’s
Pulani Boot House is situated in a busy market
of Gurgaon. While he runs his business successfully, he is equally successful as a DOT
provider. He has 20 patients under treatment. Eight patients have already completed
treatment under him. So committed he is to the programme that he has kept a shelf in his shop to store TB medicines
in patient wise boxes having the name of the patients. He not only provides medicines
to the patients, he also maintains very good record of each patient and has a good rapport
with the patients. There are no defaulters, and if there is any he makes it a point to
visit the house of the `patients to find out the reasons. He has used his business
contacts to the full advantage of the TB control programme. He uses his contact to
motivate patients, retrieve defaulters, if any, and successfully implement the TB control
programme. People
like him are very important for the programme and it is this involvement at the grass root
that ensures the success of the programme. Such dedicated people should be recognised and
their experiences should be shared with the public so that more and more community leaders
and others in public life can make use of their contacts for the success of the programme.
Story
of involvement of NGO in RNTCP (Meerut- Uttar Pradesh)
Meerut,
a district few kilometers away from the national capital, Delhi is a RNTCP district. One
of the NGO, ‘Falah-e-am Charitable Hospital’
has shown that NGO can make marked difference to the success of the programme. Falah-e-am Charitable Hospital with collaboration
with the District TB Officer started microscopy center and DOT center in urban slum of
Meerut. This slum is located in an interior of the district where there are no health
facilities available. Muslim population predominantly inhabits this slum. NGO started its
activities on 18th Dec 2000. At present it is providing DOTS to 621 patients,
perhaps the maximum number catered by an NGO under RNTCP. It not only provides DOTS, but
also creates awareness about the disease and availability of free treatment. Hence
it is the responsibility of the DTO to identify such dedicated NGOs, get them involved in
RNTCP and encourage them to start activities in remote areas of the district adding to the
success of the programme. |