CM Yogi Adityanath’s vision: Uttar Pradesh aims to eliminate tuberculosis by 2025

Lucknow, November 3 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has achieved a major milestone in the war against tuberculosis (TB).

This indicates remarkable success in identifying and treating patients in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

This fiscal year, the state has once again surpassed others in its TB-free mission. With a target of detecting 6,50,000 tuberculosis patients, Uttar Pradesh has achieved 86 per cent of this target by the end of October, making it the top-ranked state for tuberculosis notifications.

Latest data reveals that Uttar Pradesh tops the country in reported tuberculosis cases, followed by Maharashtra with 185,765 patients and Bihar with 1,67,161 patients.

This continued momentum mirrors last year’s successes and shows the state is on track to exceed its TB reporting target once again.

Experts are of the opinion that it is necessary to detect and treat as many tuberculosis patients as possible to eliminate the disease both in the country and in Uttar Pradesh.

To support this initiative, the Central TB Division set notification targets for each state at the beginning of the year.

Uttar Pradesh has been tasked with detecting 6,50,000 TB patients, an increase from last year’s target of 550,000.

As of October 31, 5,59,000 tuberculosis patients were detected in Uttar Pradesh and private doctors played a crucial role in this success. Approximately 40 percent of these cases (more than 200,000 patients) were registered through private healthcare providers.

In cities like Agra, Mathura, Jhansi, Kanpur, Meerut and Moradabad, private doctors outperformed government doctors in TB reporting.

In Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Bareilly, both the government and the private sector contributed equally to identifying tuberculosis cases.

State Tuberculosis Officer Dr. Shailendra Bhatnagar emphasized that under the mission of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, efforts to achieve a tuberculosis-free Uttar Pradesh by 2025 are continuing at full speed. Thanks to these stringent measures, the state continues to lead the nation in tuberculosis reporting.

Key initiatives of the Ministry of Health such as the monthly Integrated Nikshay Diwas on the 15th, the Active Case Finding (ACF) Campaign and the ongoing Dastak Abhiyan have significantly increased progress towards this target.

Last year, these efforts enabled the state to meet 115 percent of its TB reporting goal. In 2023, the target was set at 5.5 lakh notifications, but Uttar Pradesh successfully identified 6.33 lakh patients.

While many private doctors across the state are actively cooperating with the government to fight tuberculosis, some districts are lagging in private notifications. For example, Shravasti reported only 38 special notifications this year.

Other districts with low special notifications include Mahoba (215), Sant Ravidas Nagar (271), Hamirpur (277), Kannauj (293), Sonbhadra (297), Chitrakoot (312), Sultanpur (370), Amethi (392) and Kanpur It is Dehat (395).

There is an urgent need to increase the involvement of private physicians in these regions to enhance tuberculosis detection and treatment efforts.