New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry has signed inked MoUs with the Ministries of Defence, Railways and AYUSH to eliminate tuberculosis, also known as TB, from India by 2025.
The agreement was signed urging the government bodies to take multi-sectoral action which makes for a strong case to transform the country’s TB-elimination efforts from a siloed health sector response to a holistic approach.
“AYUSH systems have potential knowledge base, qualified and trained human resources and holistic healthcare practices to help achieve the objective of TB-free India,”AYUSH minister Sripad Yesso Naik said in a statement.
He said it is expected that multifaceted issues of people suffering from TB can be addressed with integrated approaches, inter-sectoral convergence and meaningful involvement of the AYUSH sector.
The MoU between Health and AYUSH ministries were exchanged by the Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan and AYUSH Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha.
TB is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs.
It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.
India has the highest burden of TB with two deaths occurring every three minutes from tuberculosis (TB).
According to the WHO, there are 2.8 million TB patients in India.
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