India’s efforts a model for global fight against TB, says PM in Varanasi

He expressed that “TB haarega, Bharat jeetega… duniya jeetegi” (TB will lose, India will win… the world will win.” The PM said that it would be interesting for the foreign delegates to know about India’s unique campaign of “people’s participation” in the fight against TB. The PM launched several initiatives, including the TB-Mukt Panchayat, the official pan-India rollout of a shorter TB Preventive Treatment (TPT), the Family-centric care model for TB and the release of India’s Annual TB Report 2023.

The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of the National Centre for Disease Control & High Containment Laboratory and inaugurated the site for the Metropolitan Public Health Surveillance Unit in Varanasi. The Prime Minister also awarded select States/UTs and districts for their progress towards ending TB. The recipients of the awards were Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir at the state/UT level and the Nilgiris, Pulwama and Anantnag at the district level.
Addressing the gathering that also included delegates from several countries, Modi expressed delight that this summit is taking place in his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi. The PM expressed confidence that Kashi would usher in “new energy” towards global resolutions in the fight against a disease such as TB.

The PM highlighted that as a country, the reflection of India’s ideology can be seen in the spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, i.e the “whole world is one family.” This message, the PM said, was giving an integrated vision and integrated solutions to the advanced world of today. The PM noted that as the G20 President, India chose the theme of ‘One Family, One World, One Future’ based on such beliefs. “The theme of G20 is a resolution for the shared future of the entire world”, the Prime Minister said. PM noted that India was forwarding the vision of ‘One Earth, One Health’ and now it was realizing the resolutions of “Global Good” with the ‘One World TB Summit.’

The Prime Minister said the commitment and determination with which India dedicated itself to tackling TB after 2014 is unprecedented. “India’s efforts were a new model for the global fight against on TB and the entire world should know these efforts,” PM said. PM elaborated the multi-pronged approach against TB that India made in the last nine years as he listed people’s participation, enhancing nutrition, treatment innovation, tech integration and wellness and prevention interventions such as Fit India, Yoga, and Khelo India.

The PM said that it would be interesting for the foreign delegates to know about India’s unique campaign of “people’s participation” in the fight against TB. Talking about the Ni-kshay Mitra campaign, Modi said nearly 10 lakh TB patients have been adopted by citizens and even children aged 10-12 years have come forward to adopt the TB patients. PM added that financial help of “Ni-kshay mitras” to the TB patients under the programme has reached up to Rs 1000 crore. PM termed the community initiative “inspirational” and expressed happiness that even Pravasi Indians were participating in the campaign.

Noting that Ni-kshay Mitra campaign has helped in tackling the challenge of nutrition for TB patients, PM underlined that the government around Rs 2000 crores have been directly transferred into the bank accounts of TB patients for their treatment, where over 75 lakh TB patients have been benefited. “Ni-kshay Mitras have now become a new source of energy for all TB patients”, PM said.
The PM said that it was difficult to arrive at new solutions by practicing outdated approaches. The PM added that the government has worked with new strategies so that TB patients do not fall out of their treatment. PM gave examples of initiating the Ayushman Bharat Scheme for the screening and treatment of TB patients, increasing the number of testing labs in the country and formulating region-specific work policies by targeting cities where the number of TB patients were high. The PM highlighted that the government was starting a three-month treatment programme for the prevention of TB patients.

The PM spoke about the tech integration in the TB Free India campaign and said that the Ni-kshay portal was developed to track the necessary care of every TB patient. PM that the Health Ministry and ICMR have developed a new method for sub-national disease surveillance that has made India, apart from WHO, the only country to have this kind of model.

The PM added that the number of TB patients in India were decreasing because of such efforts. Modi said a global target to eradicate TB was 2030 but India was working with the goal of eliminating TB in the country by 2025. Referring to the capacity and health infrastructure enhanced during the Covid-19 pandemic, the PM said the country was working with the strategy of Trace, Test, Track, Treat and Technology in the fight against TB.

“There is a massive global potential in this local approach of India,” the PM said. The PM added that 80 per cent of TB medicines are made in India. “I would like that more and more countries get the benefit of all such campaigns, innovations and modern technology of India because we are committed for global good. All of the countries participating in this summit can develop a mechanism for this. I am sure, this resolution of ours will definitely be fulfilled.” The PM recalled the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi towards eliminating leprosy and shared an incident when Gandhiji was called to inaugurate a leprosy hospital in Ahmedabad but he told the people that he would be happy when he would be invited to lock the doors of that hospital.

The PM added that the hospital continued to run for decades. PM added that when the people of Gujarat gave him the opportunity to serve the state in 2001 then his government gave momentum to the campaign against leprosy.