Express News Service
LUCKNOW: Tuberculosis (TB) will lose and India and the world will win, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi exuding confidence that while the global target to end TB was 2030, India was working with commitment to eradicate it by 2025 itself. Inaugurating the ‘One World TB Summit 2023’ in Varanasi on Friday, the Prime Minister claimed that new India was known for achieving its goals and TB eradication had been taken as a pledge. The PM cited the end of the practice of open defecation, Swachh Bharat campaign and record ethanol production in the country.
The PM launched TB Preventive Treatment (TPT), TB Free Panchayat Initiative, Family Centred Care Model for TB and India’s Annual TB Report-2023 during the event. He also virtually laid the foundation stone of BSL Lab Metropolitan Public Health Surveillance Unit in Varanasi.
While addressing the gathering of health ministers and delegates from various countries at the World TB Summit, PM Modi made a special mention of India’s global role in combating the disease. He said since 2014 India had been working on a new model in the global fight against TB and the world should know about it.
The PM delved upon the techniques and tools being used in the country to defeat TB. He said peoples’ participation, enhancement of nutrition, innovation in medication, use of technological advancements and wellness campaigns like Khelo India and Fit India or even practising Yoga, were the main tools used to combat the dreaded diseases.
“We have ensured people’s participation in the endeavour. We have called upon them to make ‘Nikshay Mitras’ to join the TB-free India campaign. After this campaign, about 10 lakh TB patients were adopted by the common citizens of the country. Even children in the age group of 10-12 years are taking this fight forward against TB as ‘Nikshay Mitra’. Many children have broken their piggy banks to adopt TB patients and help them in combating the disease successfully. This financial support of ‘Nikshay Mitras’ for TB patients has reached above Rs 1000 crore,” said the PM.
Elaborating on the TB eradication efforts further, PM Modi said a total of 75 lakh TB patients benefited so far by receiving Rs 2000 crore in their accounts in a scheme announced by the Centre in 2018. This amount is credited to the account of TB patients through Direct Bank Transfer (DBT) scheme, he added.
“For screening and treatment, the TB patients have been linked to Ayushman Bharat scheme. The number of labs across the country has been increased for free TB testing. Today the TB-free Panchayat has started where all the elected public representatives of villages will together take a resolution that every patient in the village will be kept healthy. We have also started three-month treatment for TB prevention instead of six months course. We have created the Nikshay Portal to track the care needed for each patient,” PM Modi added while underlining the efforts made towards the eradication of TB.
Sharing details on innovation in medication of TB patients, the PM said that 80 per cent of the medicines to fight TB were being manufactured in India. The PM called upon the people to raise awareness among TB patients and make them come forward for better management of the disease instead of hiding it.
