District collector Sailaja Ramaiyer has called upon doctors, Dot workers and NGOs to work collectively to check tuberculosis (TB) in the district. The collector was the chief guest at a meeting organised to mark the World Tuberculosis (TB) Day y Krishna District TB Control Society and Krishna District TB Association in Machilipatnam on Monday. Addressing the gathering, the collector said TB control rate is 87 per cent in the district and called upon the doctors and medical staff to enhance the rate upto 99 per cent. She said 2,460 Dot workers were engaged in TB control activities and stressed the need to include Asha workers for better results. Ms Ramaiyer said AIDS/HIV victims were more vulnerable to tuberculosis and underlined the need to focus on the affected persons to save them from being attacked by tuberculosis. Efforts made by the National Health Mission to check the spread of tuberculosis were giving fruitful results, she said. The collector interacted with some persons affected by tuberculosis and inquired about the treatment and medicines being distributed to them. District TB officer Dr Sasidhar Kumar said that nine centres including Vijayawada, Machilipatnam, Gudivada, Gudur, Nuzvid and Nandigama are distributing medicines to the TB patients. Additional district medical and health officer Dr Ramana Rao, municipal chairman Sk Silar Dada and others spoke on the occasion.