Bihar Diary: Priti Jha's Fight Against TB In Rural Bihar

Memories of underdevelopment

For the past several years, I’ve had one goal in life—detect TB patients in my corner of Bihar, make the people aware of this disease and bust myths around it.

The moment any person is detected with its symptoms within a 10 sq. km. radius of my home in Bhura village of Purnia district, I get a call from someone in my network, and ensure that a team reaches there to test the patient, and to make sure their family members visit a nearby health centre as soon as possible.

Sometimes, I feel God has chosen me for this job. My only motto in life is to make people aware of the disease and ensure their timely treatment.

Family life

It all started with my own suffering in 2021, when the Covid-19 second wave was ravaging the country. My husband fell ill. Initially, I thought that he had caught Covid, but when I got him tested, I realised he had TB.

People advised me to stay away from him and keep my children away. I had no knowledge of TB. I kept my children away but looked after him myself. It left my children very sad. They kept asking me why I was not allowing them to meet their father. I had no answer. I had to leave my day job. It meant the end of my livelihood, but I had no choice. I spent all our savings and sold some land just for food and medicines. I didn’t pay heed to what people said, but kept looking after him on my own. Luckily, the medication worked, and in a few months he recovered.

That’s when I decided to start an awareness campaign on TB, and began working as a jeevika didi with a Bihar government-backed women’s self-help group. I thought if an educated woman like me can suffer so much due to TB, what must be going on in the homes of others? So I decided to raise awareness among the people that TB patients don’t need isolation as it doesn’t spread via touch. Rather, they need emotional support.

Learning curve

I’m a graduate in Psychology, but a lot of what I learnt about the disease and its treatment was on the job. I had no idea how to start. Luckily, the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) held a training programme on TB in Bihar, which I attended and learnt a lot.

So far, I have visited over a dozen pancha­y­ats and identified 86 patients who have been sent for screening. Six of them had TB.

There are many misconceptions about TB, besides that it spreads via touch. I tell people they need to improve local hygiene. People don’t know that the government is providing free treatment and giving money to get the patients healthy foods, for example.

(This appeared in the print edition as "Bihar Diary")

(As told to Umesh Kumar Ray)

Priti Jha is a social worker in Purnia district of Bihar