Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on Monday reaffirmed the central government’s unwavering commitment to achieving a TB-Mukt Bharat, and said tuberculosis treatment coverage has increased in the country.
Speaking at the World TB Day 2025 summit, the Minister said, “Our TB elimination strategy is based on ‘whole of the society’ and ‘whole of the government’ approach.”
Lauding the 100 Days Intensified TB Elimination campaign’s strategy to deploy cutting-edge technologies, including handheld X-ray units and upfront Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAAT) some of which were deployed using mobile vans (Nikshay Vahans), he said this helped the campaign shatter geographical barriers and brought vital screening and diagnostic services to remote and underserved areas.
He informed that over 13.46 lakh Nikshay Shivirs, or community screening and awareness camps were organised in the districts bringing essential TB services directly to the doorsteps of crore of people.
Citing that TB treatment coverage in India has increased from 59 to 85 per cent, Nadda said, “12.97 crore people were screened for TB with 7.19 lakh new cases detected. Among the notified TB cases, approximately 2.85 lakh were asymptomatic cases who might have otherwise gone undetected without the stratified screening strategy of the campaign.”
Mentioning that TB is not over yet, he has announced further scaling up of the TB elimination campaign to cover all districts in India.
The Minister further said that India is one of the top global funders on TB research and congratulated ICMR for their significant research on TB.
He highlighted some innovations like RT-PCR machines used during the Covid pandemic which is adapted for use in TB screening.
Similarly, indigenous diagnostic kits developed by ICMR not only reduce the cost for TB detection but also improve efficiency by conducting 32 tests in one go, Nadda added.