Lucknow, Nov 3 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has achieved a significant milestone in the battle against tuberculosis (TB).
This shows remarkable success in identifying and treating patients throughout the state of Uttar Pradesh.
This financial year, the state has once again surpassed others in its mission to become TB-free. With a goal of identifying 6,50,000 TB patients, Uttar Pradesh has already achieved 86 per cent of this target by the end of October, which makes it the top state in TB notifications.
Recent data reveals that Uttar Pradesh leads the nation in notified TB cases, followed by Maharashtra with 185,765 patients and Bihar with 1,67,161.
This ongoing momentum reflects last year's achievements, suggesting that the state is on track to surpass its TB notification target once again.
Experts are of the view that identifying and treating as many TB patients as possible is essential for eradicating the disease in both the country and Uttar Pradesh.
To bolster this initiative, the Central TB Division established notification targets for each state at the beginning of the year.
Uttar Pradesh was tasked with identifying 6,50,000 TB patients, an increase from last year's target of 550,000.
As of October 31, Uttar Pradesh has identified 5,59,000 TB patients, with private doctors playing a crucial role in this achievement. Approximately 40 per cent of these cases -- over 200,000 patients -- were registered through private healthcare providers.
In cities such as Agra, Mathura, Jhansi, Kanpur, Meerut, and Moradabad, private doctors have outperformed their government counterparts in TB notifications.
In Lucknow, Gorakhpur, and Bareilly, both the government and private sectors have made equal contributions to identifying TB cases.
State TB Officer Dr. Shailendra Bhatnagar emphasised that, under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's mission, efforts to achieve a TB-free Uttar Pradesh by 2025 are in full swing. Thanks to these rigorous measures, the state continues to lead the nation in TB notifications.
Key initiatives from the Health Department, like the monthly Integrated Nikshay Diwas on the 15th, the Active Case Finding (ACF) Campaign, and the ongoing Dastak Abhiyan, have significantly boosted progress toward this goal.
Last year, these efforts led the state to achieve 115 per cent of its TB notification target. 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 collaborating with the government to combat TB, some districts are lagging in private notifications. For instance, Shravasti has reported only 38 private notifications this year.
Other districts with low private notifications include Mahoba (215), Sant Ravidas Nagar (271), Hamirpur (277), Kannauj (293), Sonbhadra (297), Chitrakoot (312), Sultanpur (370), Amethi (392), and Kanpur Dehat (395).
There is a pressing need to enhance the involvement of private doctors in these districts to boost TB detection and treatment efforts.