Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan was launched by President Droupadi Murmu on Friday. She asked Indians to fight together to eradicate the disease on a war footing.
The President also announced the Ni-kshay Mitra programme, which would provide additional diagnostic, nutritional, and employment support to those receiving TB treatment, and he urged people to volunteer as blood donors to aid the patients in finishing their road to recovery.
In order to achieve the worldwide goal of eliminating tuberculosis by 2030, the Central government has committed to doing so by 2025, five years earlier.
“Ni-kshay Mitra is an initiative to ensure additional diagnostic, nutritional, and vocational support to those on TB treatment, and encouraged elected representatives, corporates, NGOs, and individuals to come forward as donors to help the patients complete their journey towards recovery. The Ni-kshay 2.0 portal will facilitate in providing additional patient support to improve treatment outcome of TB patients, augmenting community involvement in meeting India’s commitment to end TB by 2025 and leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) opportunities,” said the government release.
The virtual launch ceremony highlighted India’s National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) progress, which has accelerated due to high-level commitment.
President Murmu commended the citizens, community leaders, and healthcare professionals for their arduous efforts in controlling the Covid-19 outbreak and emphasised the importance of using a similar, all-encompassing strategy to eradicate TB from the nation.
An estimated 13.5 lakh TB patients are registered on the Ni-kshay portal, of which 8.9 lakh active TB patients have consented for adoption, according to health minister Mandaviya Mandaviya, who spoke at the ceremony.
“The Ni-kshay digital portal will provide a platform for community support for persons with TB. He urged all citizens, NGOs, corporate houses, elected representatives etc, to support the movement by becoming Ni-kshay Mitras and convene gatherings to discuss the initiative, so no one with TB is left behind,” Mandaviya said.
The Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana, which offers Rs. 500 through DBT to people undergoing TB treatment as nutritional assistance, is one of the supportive programmes Mandaviya praised in her speech highlighting the significance of a patient-centered healthcare system. In 2021, India notified 21 lakh cases of TB.
