New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has proposed a 16.7 percent hike in budgetary allocation for its Tuberculosis (TB) elimination programme in India for the year 2021-22.
Talking to ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview in New Delhi, Vikas Sheel, joint secretary in the health ministry said that the proposal is under the consideration of the Parliament.
"The budgetary allocation for 2021-22 is still under consideration of the Parliament," Sheel said.
He recalled that the government had decided to take 'progressive actions' under the TB programme when the national health policy was formed in 2017.
"Since then the budget for TB has increased more than four times," he said.
To ensure smooth operationalisation of all TB related activities, the ministry has requested an increase of 16.7 percent in the budget allocation for TB in the financial year 2021-2022 (Rs 3628.85 crore) over the amount allocated for the current financial year (Rs 3109.93 crore).
Sheel said that the ministry has also instituted certification of TB free status at the sub-national level.
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Budgam in J&K and Lakshadweep have been declared as the first TB free district and UTs in the country.
"I am confident that with the intervention and guidance from the minister, we should be able to reach the milestone of reducing the incidence of TB by 80 percent by 2025," said Sheel.
Under the 'TB Harega Desh Jeetega' campaign, launched in September 2019, the states are increasingly committing themselves to end TB by 2025.
TB elimination programme and similar campaign faced setbacks during the continuing pandemic situation.
"Yes, there were challenges initially in the TB programme too, especially due to the limitations of movement of people amid pandemic. However, we have adopted a by-direction screening of Covid and TB. If anybody does carry Covid screening, he or she must be screened for TB and vice versa," said Sheel.
According to the India TB report 2021, TB notifications reduced to 18.02 lakh in 2020 from 24.04 lakh in 2019 due to the disruptions and diversion of resources caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Another official in the health ministry informed that 11 states and UTs have formed state-specific action plans to end TB by the stipulated time.
"The programme is implementing targeted advocacy, communication and social mobilisation activities with the support of state and UTs. Stigma reduction activities are specifically planned with local self bodies and community engagement activities through the involvement of TB champions," the official said.
India's TB programme continues to be one of the largest public health programmes in the world. Introduction of newer drugs, diagnostics and initiatives such as private sector engagement and Nikshay Poshan Yojana (Rs 500 DBT for nutritional support) have been taken to scale.
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The incidence of TB per 1,00,000 population has reduced from 234 in 2012 to 199 in 2018. The mortality due to TB per 1,00,000 populations for India has reduced from 43 in 2012 to 33 in 2018.
India has notified 24.04 lakh cases during the year 2019, thus reducing the gap in missing cases to 2.4 lakh.
The TB notified cases increased by 12 percent in the year 2019 from 21.55 lakh in the year 2018.
A total of 79,144 deaths took place in India due to TB in 2019.
