District TB officer ensures every patients gets medicine on doorstep

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 30

Doctors have been leading the fight against the coronavirus from the front and Dr Naresh Chawla, district TB officer, is no different. While performing his routine duties at the hospital, he has also been making sure that no TB patient suffers for want of medicine.

He has constituted a team of around 10 community volunteers who have been providing medicines to TB patients on their doorstep.

“We can’t neglect TB patients during the curfew. The patients had shared that they were facing problems in getting medicines as many directly observed treatment (DOT) centres were closed. Now whenever I get a call from a patient, we provide him or her medicines through community volunteers, who are associated with us, on the doorstep. Therefore during the lockdown, we are able to provide medicines to every patient,” he said.

Dr Chawla added, “If a patient does not get medicine due to curfew restrictions, it can prove to be fatal for him or her. I keep a stock of TB medicines in my car. We are receiving every call whether it is from a TB patient or not. We try to accommodate and prescribe the medicine to the patients who fail to approach any physician for checkup.”

Besides, he has been attending webinars and taking classes to know new developments in his field. “During webinars, I have been listening to some of the prominent doctors and specialists about Covid-19 and other developments in my field,” he added.

Besides being committed to his profession, Dr Chawla also runs an NGO, JIYA (Joint Initiative by You and All) foundation, which is doing yeoman service by providing necessary items to the needy.