Nutritional support is especially critical, given undernutrition is a major risk factor driving TB incidence in the country
President Droupadi Murmu launched Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan September 9, 2022. Photo: Twitter@rashtrapatibhvn Individuals, non-profits, institutions and corporations can now “adopt” tuberculosis (TB) patients to support their nutritional needs, additional diagnostics and vocational training.
This is part of the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan launched by President Droupadi Murmu September 9, 2022. Under this, the Nikshay Mitra aspect paves the way for this community support system as India inches closer to the target date of eradicating TB by 2025, five years ahead of the SDG deadline.
“The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan has been envisioned to bring together all community stakeholders to support those on TB treatment and accelerate the country’s progress towards TB elimination,” the health ministry noted.
The Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya will adopt 15 of the 87 patients who have given their consent in his home town Palitana in Gujarat, according to news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).
Of the 1,351,611 TB patients currently receiving treatment in India, some 895,119 have given their consent to be adopted as of September 7, the PTI report noted, citing official sources. This figure includes multi-drug-resistant TB patients as well.
The three-pronged approach aims to address three key concerns.
First is nutrition, under which a food basket consisting of — three kilograms of rice, 1.5 kg of pulses, 250 grams of vegetable cooking oil and one kg of milk powder or six litres of milk or one kg of groundnut and 30 eggs — has been recommended for each patient.
Second is vocational support given to 65-70 per cent of TB patients who fall in the 15-45 years age group. Third is additional diagnostic support.
Nutritional support is especially critical, given undernutrition is a major risk factor driving TB incidence in the country. Moreover, the abysmal performance of the Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY) has not helped to bridge the gap. Only 62.1 per cent of over 2.1 million notified cases across India in 2021 received at least one tranche of payment under the scheme. NPY is India’s flagship nutrition support scheme for TB patients.
The minimum time period for providing support is one year and this is a voluntary programme. An anonymous list of patients who have given their consent to be a part of this scheme can be found on the official Nikshay website, where their case details are listed.
“We don’t want people to donate money. We want the human touch. We want them to either make the baskets themselves or, if they are donating from outside the area, have someone do it on their behalf,” a health ministry official told daily The Indian Express.
If that is not possible, then they can ask their TB officer to connect them to local organisations which can do it. But we would prefer that people do it on their own, added the official.
Every year some 0.20-0.25 billion TB incidences and 0.04 billion deaths are recorded in India. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has undone several efforts made to eradicate the disease. Such efforts, if implemented correctly, will be critical in achieving the goal of 2025.
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