The government has been working seriously to eradicate TB by providing free diagnosis, medicines and then Nikshay Poshan Yojana and other kinds of support to the TB patients notified from both the public and the private sector.
The Union Health Ministry’s “adopt a TB patient” (Nikshay Mitra), a donor probably the first in the world, said 1,78,443 TB patients and 1,667 donors (Ni-kshaya Mitra) enrolled.
Any individuals, institutions, cooperative societies, corporates, elected representatives,non governmental organizations, political parties and partners willing to adopt the health facilities can register as Nikshay Mitra on the Nikshay 2.0 portal to support TB patients. The aim is to provide essential nutrition and social support to the patients and root out stigma and discrimination against them.
Three types of support are essential to support the patients by the donors who had given consent shall include nutritional support, additional investigations, vocational support and additional nutritional supplements. Ultimately, improved nutrition for the TB patients shall result in better treatment. The minimum period of commitment for providing the support to the patient is one year.
The Ministry said that this activity aims at creating and increasing awareness among the common people about tuberculosis. India has the world’s highest tuberculosis burden with 26 lakh patients and approximately four lakh people are dying from it every year. In terms of loss of lives, income and work days is substantial economic burden. TB usually affects the most economically age group of the society.
