3 distts get Gold during Sub-National Certification for TB elimination

Srinagar: The Directorate of Health Services Kashmir has congratulated to TB teams of district Anantnag, Pulwama and Kupwara for getting Gold during Sub National Certification for TB Elimination in the country.
Spokesperson DHSK, Dr Mir Mushtaq said out of 8 districts awarded Gold medals across the country, three are from Kashmir which is good news for the entire Heath Department. He said Baramulla got Bronze medal (1 in 56 districts). Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr Mushtaq Ahmad Rather expressed gratitude to J&K Government particularly the Additional Chief Secretary Health and Medical Education, Vivek Bhardwaj for his support.
The director congratulated the CMOs, BMOs, STO Kashmir, DTOs, and IAPSM assessment teams across GMCs of Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar, WHO NTEP Consultants and the staff associated with the tuberculosis elimination program. Dr MA Rather said that the department will continue to work for the TB elimination in Kashmir division and they are committed for the cause.
Giving further details, the spokesperson said the three districts from Kashmir division—Anantnag, Kupwara and Pulwama—have shown 60-80 percent reduction in TB cases in the last five years and have secured gold medals under the program. Five other districts in India which have secured gold medals are Malappuram and Wayanad in Kerala, Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, and Purba Mednipur in West Bengal.
As per norms, districts or States/UTs which reported a decline of 20 percent could have filed the claim under the ‘Bronze’ category which comes with a monetary award of Rs 2 lakh, those with a decline of 40 percent could have filed the claim under ‘Silver’, and those with 60 percent could have filed their claim for ‘Gold’. Similarly, those with 80 percent reduction were to be conferred with ‘TB Free’ status with a monetary award of Rs 10 lakh as part of sub-national certification for TB Free districts and States.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Anantnag, Kupwara and Pulwama have shown the progress of 60-80 percent reduction in TB cases and have claimed Gold category while Baramulla district has shown the progress of about 20 percent and is under Bronze category along with 55 other districts in the entire country. Similarly, 201 districts of 33 states/UTs had filed claims under different categories in which 8 including three from Kashmir secured gold, 27 districts (none from J&K) secured silver, and 56 districts including Baramulla from Kashmir secured Bronze. The rest failed to get any success.