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Govt mulling incentives for TB patients
The State government is contemplating introducing “direct benefit transfer” for the tuberculosis (TB) patients on the lines of KCR Kits which have promoted institutional deliveries. The benefit is meant for those patients failing to stick to the regimen. The government is committed to eliminate TB in Telangana State by 2023, two years ahead of Union government\'s 2025 deadline.
Hyderabad: The State government is contemplating introducing “direct benefit transfer” for the tuberculosis (TB) patients on the lines of KCR Kits which have promoted institutional deliveries. The benefit is meant for those patients failing to stick to the regimen. The government is committed to eliminate TB in Telangana State by 2023, two years ahead of Union government's 2025 deadline.
According to officials of Health Department, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the government’s commitment to eliminate TB by 2025. Taking a cue from the Union government’s commitment, Telangana State Health Minister C Laxma Reddy has made the government’s commitment to eliminate TB in the State by 2023. Some TB patients are not able to fully utilise the quality diagnosis and best treatment being made available by the government because of stigma attached to the disease.
A representative of an NGO said even today many TB patients, especially among the poor, face the dilemma whether to receive treatment or not. “As per our volunteer’s observation for the past one year, middle class persons hesitate to take drugs from the government hospitals because of the fear that they may be identified by their neighbours.
A section of TB patients are not sticking to the regimen because of lack of awareness and it leads to relapse of the disease. As per the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme, the government has been spending around Rs 2 lakh on each patient suffering multi-drug resistant TB.
Meanwhile, around 85 per cent TB patients are receiving treatment in the government hospitals and 15 per cent in private sector. Not less than 20,000 patients are not completing the regimen. Speaking to The Hans India on Saturday, Dr Ch Surya Prakash, Joint Director(TB) and State TB Officer, said the government is making all efforts to ensure that all the patients, including the TB patients who fail to continue the regimen, are covered. For this, we were considering a scheme like KCR kits.
“TB patients will get the incentive money through DBT a month after taking the treatment. The department has been collecting the bank account numbers, Aadhar numbers, and mobile numbers of patients. We were planning to give incentive in between Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 to each patient,” said Dr Surya Prakash and added that the incentive would help the patients to buy nutritious food.
By: V Naveen Kumar
