Lok Sabha Question No. 2561 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-04
Subject: Eradication of TB
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Sushil Kumar Singh

## GOVERNMENT OFINDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2561 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04 th AUGUST, 2023

## ERADICATION OF TB

## 2561. SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has decided on any deadline for eradication of Tuberculosis

(TB) in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the time frame by when Government plans to achieve the target and the details of action/plans in place to counter the disease;

(c) whether the Government has conducted any survey at Block levels in the country to know the exact number of TB patients and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether there is a global mandate for the replacement of smear microscopy with a molecular test to achieve TB elimination;

- (e) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (f) the percentage of molecular tests to smear microscopy as the front-line test?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a) to (b) With the goal to achieve Sustainable Development Goals related to TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global targets, the Government has implemented the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) under the aegis of the National Health Mission (NHM) with the following objectives: -

1. Early diagnosis of TB patients, prompt treatment with quality assured drugs and treatment regimens.
2. To engage with the patients seeking care in the private sector.
3. Prevention strategies including active case finding and contact tracing in high risk /vulnerable population.
4. Airborne infection control.
5. Multi-sectoral response for addressing social determinants.

The other steps taken by the Government to achieve the above mentioned goal, are as under:

- 1) State and District Specific Strategic plan for targeted interventions in high burden areas.
- 2) Provision of free drugs and diagnostics to TB patients including for drug resistant TB.
- 3) Active TB case finding campaign in key vulnerable and co-morbid population.
- 4) Integration with Ayushman Bharat -Health & Wellness Centres to decentralize screening and treatment services closer to the community.
- 5) Private sector engagement with provision of incentives for notification and management of TB cases.
- 6) Scale up of molecular diagnostic laboratories to sub-district levels.
- 7) Nikshay Poshan Yojana for nutritional support to TB patients.
- 8) Intensified IEC campaigns to reduce stigma, raise community awareness and improve health seeking behaviour.
- 9) Multi-sectoral response with involvement of line ministries.
- 10) Scale up TB preventive therapy to contacts of pulmonary TB.
- 11) Notified TB cases are tracked through web-based portal Ni-kshay.
- 12) Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (PMTBMBA):
13.  launched by the Ministry on 9th September 2022 for community support to TB patients with the objective to provide people with TB with additional nutritional, diagnostic and vocational support.
14.  Ni-kshay 2.0 portal has been developed and made available in public domain for facilitating the community to register as Ni-kshay Mitra.
15.  Guidance documents have been developed and shared with all State/UTs to implement the initiative.
16.  Periodic reviews are done to monitor the progress of the initiative at National and State/UT levels.

(c) To assess burden of TB at sub-national levels, the Ministry through Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has conducted a National TB Prevalence Survey in 20 State/group of States which demonstrated the 'Prevalence of all forms of TB cases for all ages as 312/lakh population' in the country.

(d) to (f) In 2022 (Jan - Dec), 31.5% of the presumptive individuals were offered molecular tests as the front-line test for TB diagnosis. To augment the capacity of molecular laboratories, the NTEP has scaled up the availability of molecular diagnostic laboratories from 1180 in 2018 to 5090 laboratories in 2022.

*****