Skip to main content

Include all workers exposed to silica dust in anti-TB programme: Govt of India told

Counterview Desk
In a letter, sponsored by well-known civil rights organization, Occupational & Environmental Health Network of India and signed by more than 60 professionals and activists*, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has been told that Indian policy makers shouldn't just acknowledge higher TB risk to mine and stone crusher workers, but also “other silica-exposed workers”.
The letter insists, “Silica-dust exposures among miners, building and construction, stone cutting/crushers, pottery, steel and allied factory, ceramic, thermal power and other workers increases the risk of active TB by three to four times”, adding, “The combination of silicosis and HIV further increases the risk of acquiring active TB by 15 times.”
It says, against this backdrop, it is time the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) should “recognize and prioritize all silica-exposed workers for screening and treatment services”, and not just those that have been listed.

Text:

We are contacting you in regards to the National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination (2017–2025) and associated policies being implemented by Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) in regards to targeted screening and interventions. We are a concerned group of health professionals and NGOs working to increase awareness of the opportunities to prevent TB with silica dust controls in the workplace.
For more than one hundred years, silica dust has been linked to higher TB prevalence rates among workers in dusty occupations. Multiple studies from India and abroad have demonstrated that silica-dust exposures among miners, building and construction, stone cutting/crushers, pottery, steel and allied factory, ceramic, thermal power and other workers increases the risk of active TB by three to four times. The combination of silicosis and HIV further increases the risk of acquiring active TB by 15 times.
We note that the National Strategic Plan does acknowledge the risk to mine and stone crusher workers as priorities for active case finding, but it fails to mention other silica-exposed workers and it does not provide any road map for preventing TB among this vulnerable population.
The five prioritized risk groups listed (page 66) mention silicosis patients, but not silica-exposed workers. In addition, we know that informal sector workers tend to have higher silica dust exposures and less access to medical services and therefore this subpopulation should be given greater attention.
The recent UN General Assembly Declaration from the High-level Meeting on TB requires countries to commit to “implementing primary prevention in high-risk occupations by reducing silica dust exposures in mining, construction and other dusty workplaces.” Efforts to target vulnerable workers and communities should incorporate training with strategies to implement silica-dust control measures.
Published studies have demonstrated that the adoption of low-cost wet processing methods in India can reduce respirable silica dust among highly-exposed workers by 80% in these operations. Studies conducted among miners and quarry workers have shown that reducing silica dust can significantly reduce TB incidence. In acknowledging these risks, other national TB programmes have adopted policies calling for increased regulation to improve workplace dust controls.
Therefore, we are requesting the following response on behalf of the RNTCP:
  1. Formally recognize and prioritize all silica-exposed workers for screening and treatment services.
  2. Expand programmes with NGO partners to include training, capacity building, mapping and in targeting high-risk workers for screening and treatment services. 
  3. Initiate inter-ministerial level dialogue to improve regulations and its application on respirable silica dust controls in the workplace and build capacity among the inspectorates to enforce these measures. 
  4. Initiate a programme to target informal sector workers for TB surveillance and control in construction, quarries, mining, and other dusty workplaces in particularly for migrant workers.  
  5. Increase training opportunities for medical officers in RNTCP programme to improve the diagnoses of silicosis and silico-tuberculosis and in particular, the NIOSH “B” reader certification. 
  6. Join in efforts at the Supreme Court and at the National Human Rights Commission to recognize TB and silicosis as compensable diseases for informal sector workers with a history of silica-dust exposures. 
We urge the RNTCP to implement these measures to help achieve its goal of eliminating TB in India by 2030.
Please respond to Jagdish Patel, national coordinator (oehni.del@gmail.com), to inform us on progress with these requests. List of the people who have endorsed this letter is attached herewith which includes luminaries in their own field spreading across the globe.
---
*Click HERE for the list of signatories

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.