Nikshay Poshan Yojana: TB nutrition aid falls short

Source: The post is based on the article “Nikshay Poshan Yojana: TB nutrition aid falls short” published in Down To Earth on 25th August 2022.

What is the News?

Only two-thirds of people living with tuberculosis benefitted from the Nikshay Poshan Yojana scheme in 2021.

What is the Nikshay Poshan Yojana?

Launched in: 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Under the scheme, every TB patient in India, seeking treatment in both government and private sector hospitals is eligible for a direct benefit transfer(DBT) of Rs 500 per month to support their nutritional needs.

Note: The major risk factor driving TB in India is undernutrition. More than 0.9 million new cases are attributable to undernutrition, accounting for nearly 34% of all cases

Performance of the scheme: 

As per India TB Report 2022, only 62.1 % of 2.1 million notified TB cases across the country received at least one payment in 2021.

In Delhi, which has the highest burden of all forms of TB at 747 cases per 100,000 people, only 30.2 % of patients have got at least one DBT.

Other poor performers are Punjab, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In the North East, Manipur and Meghalaya fared the worst.

What are the reasons for the poor performance of the scheme?

Several hurdles were found in the DBT for both health providers and patients such as non-availability of bank accounts and unlinked bank accounts.

Lack of communication, stigma, illiteracy and the multistep approval process are the other key hurdles.

Moreover, states have their own nutritional support schemes. But, some schemes are only for patients showing resistance to TB drugs.