New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) More than 26 lakh eligible individuals were initiated on preventive treatment against tuberculosis (TB) in 2024, said Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, in the Parliament during the ongoing Monsoon session on Tuesday.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Patel shared the progress made in the fight against TB elimination in the country.

Citing the National TB Prevalence Survey (2019-21) conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Patel stated that the country “has an estimated 31.3 per cent crude prevalence of latent TB infection among the population aged 15 years and above”.

To address this, the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) was initiated, which screens household contacts and vulnerable populations for TB infection and, if eligible, offers TB preventive treatment.

“In the year 2024 (Jan-Dec), 26.72 lakh eligible individuals were initiated on TB preventive treatment,” Patel said.

In addition, in December 2024, the government launched a 100-Day TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, which culminated on March 24 on World TB Day. It aimed to target vulnerable populations and congregate settings in priority districts.

“To address the requirement of X-ray for screening vulnerable population, the State/UTs had implemented a resource mapping exercise and based on need, augmented their capacity for X-ray services in public health facilities with utilisation of AI-enabled hand-held X-rays and identified private facilities,” the MoS said.

Further, under NTEP, the key steps undertaken to accelerate response towards TB elimination include targeted interventions in high TB burden areas; provision of free drugs and diagnostics to TB patients; intensified TB case-finding among vulnerable populations through mobile diagnostic units for reaching out to remote and rural areas.

Other initiative includes decentralisation of TB screening and treatment services to the Ayushman Arogya Mandir (AAM); private sector engagement with incentives for notification and management of TB cases; scaling up of molecular diagnostic laboratories in all blocks to facilitate early TB diagnosis; and Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana of Rs 1,000 per month per patient as nutritional support for the entire duration of treatment.

–IANS

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