India’s efforts against tuberculosis after 2014 “unprecedented”: PM Modi on World TB Day

Varanasi (UP): Karnataka and J& K on the State/UT level and The Nilgiris, Pulwama and Anantnag at the district level were awarded for their progress towards ending TB

BY | Friday, 24 March, 2023
PM attends the ‘One World TB Summit’ at Rudrakash Convention Centre at Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh on 24 March 2023. (PIB New Delhi)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India’s efforts against Tuberculosis after 2014 is unprecedented in his address on World TB Day at the One World TB Summit at Rudrakash Convention Centre in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

Elaborated on a multi-pronged approach against TB, a new model for the global war on TB, in the last 9 years, Modi listed people’s participation, enhancing nutrition, treatment innovation, tech integration and wellness and prevention such as Fit India, Yoga, and Khelo India type of interventions.

Modi said that under the Ni-kshay Mitra Campaign, about 10 lakh TB patients have been adopted by citizens and even children aged 10-12 years have come forward. Financial help to the TB patient under the programme has reached up to one thousand crore rupees, he added.

He underlined that the government had announced a Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for TB patients in 2018 and as a result, approximately Rs 2000 crores have been directly transferred into their bank accounts for their treatment, where more roughly 75 lakh TB patients have benefitted from this.

“Ni-kshay Mitras have now become a new source of energy for all TB patients”, the PM Modi said.

Gathering at the ‘One World TB Summit’ at Rudrakash Convention Centre at Varanasi.

He highlighted that the Ayushman Bharat Scheme has facilitated screening and treatment of TB, increasing the number of testing labs in the country and formulating region-specific work policies by targeting cities where the number of TB patients is high.

PM Modi also highlighted that the government is starting a 3 months treatment programme for the prevention of TB instead of a 6-month course. He informed that earlier, the patients had to take medicines for 6 months every day but now, in the new system, the patient will have to take medicine only once a week.

Further, he announced that the Health Ministry-ICMR developed a new method for sub-national disease surveillance that has made India, apart from WHO, the only country to have this kind of model.

PM launches TB-Mukt Panchayat initiative at the ‘One World TB Summit’

On the occasion of World TB Day, Modi launched various initiatives including the TB-Mukt Panchayat, the official pan-India rollout of a shorter TB Preventive Treatment (TPT), the Family-centric care model for TB and the release of India’s Annual TB Report 2023.

He also laid the foundation stone of the National Centre for Disease Control & High Containment Laboratory and inaugurated the site for the Metropolitan Public Health Surveillance Unit in Varanasi.

The Prime Minister also awarded select States/UTs and districts for their progress towards ending TB. The recipients of the awards were Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir on the State/UT level and The Nilgiris, Pulwama and Anantnag at the district level.

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