Guv, Irani to inspect TB Hospital today

LUCKNOW: Governor Anandiben Patel, who along with her staffers at Lucknow Raj Bhawan, had adopted 22 children affected by TB in August, will be inspecting a TB hospital in Amethi on Tuesday.

Local MP and union minister Smriti Irani will accompany her.

This would be Anandiben Patel’s first visit to Amethi, a Congress bastion for long, from where Smriti registered an emphatic win over the then Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

This would be Smriti’s second visit in as many days to Amethi – on Sunday she was there in her new constituency for a padyatra (foot march), that party has directed all to undertake in their constituencies.

“The district hospital is still not ready. Its construction has been delayed. But, the governor and local MP would be visiting the hospital campus and inspect the TB wing that is also located on the premises,” a BJP leader said.

The governor’s visit to a TB hospital in Amethi is expected to garner limelight in view of her “TB free” state push that is timed to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to free the country from the disease by 2025 a reality.

“The governor has been championing this cause and we all have decided to be part of it by adopting a TB patient too,” UP’s health minister Jai Pratap Singh said.

The possibility of Smriti Irani too adopting a TB patient were high, BJP leaders said though none was in a position to confirm it. UP accounts for nearly 5.75 lakh TB patients and to screen those afflicted with this disease, the government has decided to provide all the hospitals with CB-NAAT test machine.

Of these, 14,600 patients are reported to be in Lucknow alone, confirmed Dr PK Gupta, district leprosy officer. The CB-NAAT machine offers the most definitive test for TB. A TB patient is entitled to Rs 500 per month from the government for a nutritious diet with the amount being transferred directly into account.