The government is committed to meeting the commitment made by Nepal to end tuberculosis by 2030, Minister of State for Health and Population Padma Kumari Aryal has said. 

Addressing a programme organised by the National Tuberculosis Centre (NTC), Thimi on the occasion of the World TB Day on Saturday, Minister of State Aryal pledged to sort out the existing problems in the health sector. She also laid a foundation stone of a Chest Disease Specialist Hospital on Saturday. 

The 300-bed facility, which is estimated to cost Rs 290 million, is expected to come into operation within the next three years. 

Health Secretary Dr Pushpa Chaudhary insisted on combined efforts to end TB. “Those TB patients who are yet to visit health centres should be searched and brought to medication,” she asserted. 

On the occasion, member of the House of Representatives Mahesh Basnet from Bhaktapur-2 promised to eradicate TB from the district and establish it as the first ‘TB-free’ district in the country. 

He urged the government to provide 40 ropani land to the district-based Human Organ Transplant Centre and increase the number of beds in the Bhaktapur 

District Hospital and ensure sufficient human resources within the next three months. 

NTC executive director Dr Kedar Narsing KC said around 45,000 new TB cases emerge in Nepal every year. Last year, a total of 31,764 new patients were identified who are under medication. 

“Still 13,000 new patients need to be identified and 28,000 both new and old patients should be brought to the treatment system.” 

On the occasion, Saarc Secretary General Amjad Hussain B Sial, World Health Organization representative Dr Jos Vandelaer and Madhyapur Municipality Mayor Madan Sundar Shrestha expressed their views on the need of collective efforts to end the disease.