By IANS,
New Delhi : India should play an important leadership role at the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit by showcasing the country’s progress on tuberculosis (TB) control, a Congress MP said during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha Wednesday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend the summit in New York September 20-22 to boost progress towards the MDGs.
This year’s MDGs summit calls for combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases, including TB and malaria.
P.T. Thomas said India should call for “new technologies and additional funding to realise the dream of TB elimination.”
He said more than one out of five TB patients in the world happens to be living in India.
“It is estimated that in India the disease affects about two million (20 lakh) people annually and is the cause of death of about three lakh people per year,” he added.
Definitely India has responded strongly to this issue, Thomas said, adding that about 1.5 million TB cases have been detected and treated annually under the country’s Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP).
“I request the government to take the proactive leadership role in this summit by attending the UN summit, sending a high-level team,” he said.
Thomas also asked the government to constitute a high-power committee at the national level involving parliamentarians, technical experts, NGOs and national programme managers to review the TB control efforts in the country.