Health Ministry releases annual tuberculosis report, Dr. Harsh Vardhan lauds the progress

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday, June 24 released the annual tuberculosis report listing the achievements of the central government's efforts to defeat the disease. The report was released in the presence of MoS Ashwini Choubey via a virtual event. 

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Health Ministry releases annual TB report

As per the report, the government has committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) goal of eliminating tuberculosis in the country by 2025, five years ahead of the global target.

While speaking at the event, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, "To align with the ambitious goal, the programme has been renamed from Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) to National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP)." 

Dr. Vardhan added that about 6,64,584 TB patients were notified by the private sector in 2019 which amounts to a 22 percent increase in TB notification as compared to the year 2018. "We need to come together to fight against TB and the stigma surrounding it," he said.

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Tripura and Nagaland were best-performing in the category of states having less than 50 lakh population. Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu were selected as the best performing Union Territories.

“The ranking will surely encourage all states and UTs to improve their performance to attain their targets. Early accurate diagnosis followed by prompt appropriate treatment is vital for ending TB. The National TB Elimination Programme has expanded both the laboratory network as well as diagnostic facilities to cover the entire country,” Vardhan said.

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As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), India has the highest number of TB cases in the world, and to eliminate the disease, the ability to achieve complete surveillance coverage is important. The programme has comprehensively moved closer to near-complete online notification of all TB cases in the country through the NIKSHAY portal. 24.04 lakh patients have been notified through the system, an increase of 11% over last year, with 6.7 lakh patients being notified from the private sector. 

Some of the achievements include a reduction in the number of missing cases to 2.9 lakh cases compared to 10 lakh cases in 2017, a provision of HIV testing for all notified TB patients increased from 67% in 2018 to 81% in 2019, expansion of treatment services has resulted in a 12% improvement in the treatment success rate of notified patients, more than 4.5 lakh DOT Centers provide treatment covering almost every village across the country, etc.

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(Image credits: twitter.com/MoHFW_INDIA)