NEW DELHI: India will be able to eliminate tuberculosis by the end of this year, five years ahead of the global target, Union Health Minister JP Nadda said Friday.
He said India, which tops the list of 30 countries with high-burden TB cases, has witnessed a noteworthy 17.7% decline in tuberculosis incidence from 2015 to 2023, a rate that is over twice the global average decline of 8.3%.
Citing the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global TB Report 2024, which had said that India’s TB incidence reduced from 237 per 1,00,000 population in 2015 to 195 in 2023, while TB mortality rate decreased from 28 to 22 in the same period, the health minister said despite the COVID-19 setback, India has not diluted its TB eradication target.
“As per the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), India has to eliminate TB by 2030. But, we are all set to achieve it by 2025," Nadda said, while inaugurating the ninth National Summit on Good and Replicable Practices and Innovation in Public Healthcare System in Puri, Odisha.
Nadda highlighted the ongoing 100-Day TB elimination campaign, spanning 455 districts across 33 states.
The campaign, which was launched on December 7, 2024, has so far detected 5 lakh TB patients already, the minister said, adding that an extensive campaign is going on.
“We are going to include all aspirational districts and aspirational blocks under the campaign so that we will be able to eliminate TB by the end of 2025,” he further added.
On the threat from non-communicable diseases, Nadda emphasised on the need for bringing lifestyle changes.
He praised National Health Mission (NHM) for its ongoing intensified special NCD screening drive, which is offering free of cost screening of diabetes, hypertension and three types of common cancer - oral, breast and cervical cancer.
He also highlighted a recent Lancet study which found that patients enrolled under AB PM-JAY saw a 90% rise in access to cancer treatment within 30 days, reducing delay in treatment and easing financial burden of cancer patients.
He also noted that every district in the country will have day care cancer centers in the next three years with 200 districts to be covered in this year itself.
Nadda said the National Health Policy 2017 brought about a paradigm shift in approach from curative healthcare to one that encompasses curative as well as preventive, promotive and comprehensive aspects.
Noting that the government has also given a lot of impetus to tertiary healthcare in addition to improving primary and secondary healthcare, he said, the focus is on ensuring quality and affordable healthcare services for the people.
He said the work done on Ayushman Arogya Mandir under the National Health Mission has strengthened the foundation of primary healthcare in the overall healthcare pyramid.
Highlighting that the decline of Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in India is double that of the global decline, he said, this shows the effort taken in strengthening the healthcare system from the grassroots level.
The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Under 5 Mortality Rate has also seen a noteworthy downfall.
Nadda also said that the WHO’s World Malaria Report 2024 acknowledges India’s significant reduction in malaria cases.
Acknowledging the importance of Jan Bhagidari for the success of any campaign, the Union Health Minister credited the ASHA workers, SHOs and other grassroots level health workers for the achievements made in the healthcare sector.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said that the state is an important pillar in the central government’s vision of a ‘Swasthya Bharat.’
He said that under the motto of “Swasthya Odisha, Samruddh Odisha”, the state will bring more energy and focus in achieving all the UN-SDG goals.
He also said that the merging of Odisha’s Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana with the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PMJAY) scheme is a momentous step as people from Odisha can now access over 29,000 private hospitals across the country, benefiting over 4.5 crore people, especially the migrant workers of the state.
The chief minister said a slew of national institutes are coming up in the state, including National Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and a National Institute of Speech and Hearing.
A new government nursing college and four dental colleges will be opened in Odisha soon, he said.