New Delhi: The flagship TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan has diagnosed 26.43 lakh cases of tuberculosis between December 2024 and 2025, Union Health Minister JP Nadda told the Parliament on Friday.
TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (National TB Elimination Programme) is implemented under the aegis of National Health Mission (NHM) in all the states of the country.
“Under the Abhiyan (from December 7, 2024, to December 9, 2025), through screening of the vulnerable population, 26.43 lakh TB cases were diagnosed, including 9.19 lakh asymptomatic TB cases and covered under treatment,” Nadda shared in the Lok Sabha.
Citing the World Health Organization’s Global TB Report 2025, he noted that the incidence and mortality rate of the world’s most deadly infectious disease have declined in the country.
As per the WHO report, the incidence rate of TB in India has shown a 21 per cent decline from 237 per lakh population in 2015 to 187 per lakh population in 2024.
TB death rate reduced by 25 per cent from 28 per lakh population in 2015 to 21 per lakh population in 2024, and the TB treatment coverage in India has increased from 53 per cent in 2015 to 92 per cent in 2024.
Launched in 2022, TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan implements key strategies, including identification of vulnerable population, including asymptomatic, screening by Chest X-ray for early detection, upfront Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) for all presumptive TB cases, timely treatment initiation and completion, differentiated TB care for managing high-risk TB cases, nutrition support, and preventive treatment to the eligible vulnerable population.
Last week, the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, told the Parliament that a total of 4.5 crore persons were tested for tuberculosis in 2025 in the country, of which more than 22.6 lakh new cases of the most infectious disease were diagnosed.
“During January to October 2025, 4.5 crore persons were tested for TB, and 22,64,704 new TB cases were diagnosed,” Patel said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
(IANS)
