Shimla: Operationalization of three Geriatric Day Care Centers and the Sunday Active Case Finding Campaign for Tuberculosis initiated by NHM were adjusted as best practices in Public Health Care across the Nation.
NHM Mission Director, Dr. Nipun Jindal, here on Wednesday, said the NHM in partnership with Help Age India has opened three Geriatric Care Centers in Shimla, Mandi and Dharamshala towns of the State which were inaugurated in August, 2019 on the occasion of World Senior Citizen Day.
These centers provide a comprehensive gambit of services under a single roof including health care, skill building, legal aid and counselling, activity based physical and mental engagement and recreational activities, Dr. Jindal further added.
He elaborated that till November, 2020 more than 25,000 beneficiaries have benefitted from this service including close to 15,000 elderly people who have taken physiotherapy and close to 2,500 people in geriatric age group who have been examined in various health camps.
The presentation in this regard was made by the MD to all the other State’s Health Departments and the Govt. of India showcasing the unique service delivery alongwith dovetailing other programmes like NCD programme, free drugs, digital literacy and legal services etc.
The State initiative of Sunday Active Case Finding campaign was also presented to the other States by the way of poster. Dr Nipun Jindal informed that since the innovation has been implemented in the State, 56,81,115 number of persons have been screened verbally by the ASHA workers for symptoms of Tuberculosis, out of which on the basis of presumptive diagnosis, 12,018 sputum samples have been collected by the Asha workers during this activity.
Out of these sputum samples of 2.28 percent people have come out to be positive which is the additional yield of Sunday Active Case Finding for TB case notification.
The districts of Kangra, Una and Mandi have been the front runners in this initiative in terms of the sputum samples collection and the TB case diagnosis.
He further informed that this activity is proving to be a catalyst under the National TB Elimination Programme in the State.
