PM launches shorter preventive treatment for TB

New Delhi : To eliminate tuberculosis from India by 2025, prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched TB-Mukt Panchayat initiative, a pan-India rollout of a shorter preventive treatment and family-centric care model.

Addressing the One World TB Summit in Varanasi, prime minister Modi highlighted the decline in the number of TB patients across the country.

The PM also laid the foundation stone of National Centre for Disease Control & High Containment Laboratory and inaugurated the site for Metropolitan Public Health Surveillance Unit in the city.

“The commitment and determination with which India dedicated itself to tackling TB after 2014 is unprecedented. India’s efforts are important and this is a new model for the global war on TB...,” said PM Modi.

The prime minister spoke about the Ni-kshay Mitra Campaign in helping TB patients. Financial help for patients under the programme has reached ₹1,000 crore.

The government had announced a direct benefit transfer scheme for TB patients in 2018 and as a result, approximately ₹2,000 crore have been transferred into their bank accounts and roughly 75 lakh patients have benefitted from this.

The prime minister also highlighted steps taken to boost healthcare services in Kashi. The National Centre for Disease Control’s Varanasi branch was inaugurated today , while the Public Health Surveillance Unit began functioning.

Child Care Institute in BHU, modernization of blood banks, modern trauma centre, super-speciality block and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre are among healthcare initiatives.

More than 1.5 lakh patients have received free treatment under Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Varanasi and more than 70 Jan Aushadhi Kendras have been providing affordable medicines to patients.