Rohit Kumar
Port Blair, 29 March 2023
A & N Islands has been ranked first among the Union Territories by the MoHFW, GoI based on the TB Score, in the India TB report 2023 released on the occasion of the World TB Day 2023. TB Score is a composite score calculated from a selected list of 9 key performance indicators, for continuous monitoring of the programmatic performance at all levels under National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP).
The major performance indicators to calculate the TB Score includes notification of TB patients from Public and Private Sectors, HIV status of TB patients, treatment success rate and number of TB patients paid under Nikshay Poshan Yojana.
The UT of A&N Islands have achieved the target set by MoHFW for diagnosis and notification of TB patients both in the public and private sector in the year 2022. A total of 534 TB patients were notified as against a target 530 fixed by MoHFW.
The HIV status was tested for 96% of the notified cases during the period. The UT had a treatment success rate of 87% and an amount of Rs. 12,36,500/- was directly transferred to the bank account of the TB patients during the period under Nikshay Poshan Yojana.
This achievement was possible due to the visionary leadership provided by the Hon’ble Lt. Governor of A&N Islands, who took a keen interest to support the TB patients and ensured that the right steps are taken for elimination of TB from the Islands. This is a proud moment for the entire A & N Islands and the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) team. NTEP under the aegis of the National Health Mission (NHM) has progressed tremendously over the past few years owing to the undeterred focus of the A & N Administration towards eliminating TB by 2025 in Andaman & Nicobar Islands under the guidance and supervision of the Chief Secretary, Commissioner-cum-Secretary Health and Secretary Health.
The unrelenting efforts and dedication of Doctors, Community Health Officers, ANMs, ASHA, all front-line warriors, the Private Health Sector and most importantly active participation of the General Public/NGOs as Ni-Kshay Mitras in this Jan Andolan against TB was instrumental in achieving the feat. It is imperative that all the stakeholders should continue their efforts with the same commitment and vigour to achieve the goal of TB elimination by 2025.