The nonchalant panchayat leader, his cynical side-kick, the pragmatic tea vendor and the committed village health nurse come together in a skit that will soon play out in parks near you to spread the message of tuberculosis eradication.
When it was previewed on Sunday as part of World TB Day observance by REACH (Resource Group for Education and Advocacy for Community Health), the skit readily connected with the audience with its blend of thought-provoking humour and compelling logic.
The story revolved around how Azhagamma who runs the “Adeyngappa” tea stall and ‘Nursamma' get the highly indifferent “Enekkenna Ekambaran”, the panchayat leader, and his aide Veerasamy to dedicate themselves to the cause of eliminating TB and the theme of World TB Day falling on March 24, “Stop TB in my lifetime'.
The skit will be staged from 5 p.m. at the Shanmugaraya Park (March 20), Perambur Park (March 22), Thiru vi Ka Park (March 24), May Day Park (March 27), Panagal Park (March 29) and Sivan Koil Park (March 31).
The REACH campaign “Talking TB in the Park” or “Poongavil Pesuvom TB Pattri” will also involve distribution of pamphlets (in English and Tamil) on TB fact-sheets and prevention.
Launching the campaign, P. Kuganantham, Health Officer, Corporation of Chennai, said while detection rates of TB cases were considered good, recent outreach interventions in urban slums over the last two months had thrown up new cases.
The Corporation mooted the establishment of three or four model TB treatment centres with the help of the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and NGOs like REACH, he said.
Arunagiri, State TB Officer, who launched a special edition newsletter, said TB had become the most important co-infection with HIV/AIDS even though diabetics, smokers and the malnourished were also at risk.
While the Revised National TB Control Programme had decentralised DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course), awareness needed to be raised on the complications of non-compliance with the six-month short course. Slippages could lead to therapies with more potent drugs for eight months while the treatment of multi-drug resistant TB extended over two years and involved side-effects, he said.
Videos featuring celebrities such as Sneha, Parthiban and Vivek would be screened at vantage public sites on World TB Day, he added.
Actor Sivakarthikeyan said as someone who knew next to nothing about tuberculosis before walking on to the dais he now realised from the commitment of health workers and community volunteers that working for TB eradication was not just social service but a bounden duty.
