New Delhi, Jun 24 (IANS): Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday released the 'India TB report 2020' and assured that the country can win the fight against TB even before 2025.

In 2017, the Central Government had developed the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for eradication of Tuberculosis with a goal of ending it by 2025.

Harsh Vardhan said that few states have made a commitment to eradicate it even before 2025. Himachal Pradesh aims to get rid of it by 2021 and Sikkim and Lakshadweep by 2022.

According to the report, over 24.04 lakh patients were notified in 2019, an increase of 14 per cent over the previous year. "This holds significance in our fight against Tuberculosis," said Harsh Vardhan pursuant to release of the book.

The report stated that out of the total TB patients, up to 2.9 lakh are missing or failed to be picked up. "Out of the 10 lakh missing cases across the country, we were able to find 7.81 lakh cases," he added.

He said, "Earlier the fight against TB was a herculean task but now it is not impossible. We can win the fight against TB even before 2025," said the Union Minister.

The TB report stated that the private sector detected as many as seven lakh cases last year as against 3,000 in 2012. Success rate has also increased from 79 per cent to 81 per cent.

Harsh Vardhan said that if the country can stand against the coronavirus pandemic in five months, "it can surely fight TB".

Besides this, Gujarat was accorded the best performing state for its work on eradication of TB, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.