CHENNAI: Dr. Bharati Pawar, the state minister for health for the Union, stated on Tuesday that the government was taking steps to eradicate tuberculosis from the country by 2025.

The minister was addressing after the inaguratioin of the clinical research department's medical records room at the ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT) in Chennai

Dr Pawar said that National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis was an old institute whose primary duties were to detect, treat and prevent Tuberculosis.

For tuberculosis patients, the Center launched the "Ni-kshay Mitra plan," which would let charitable organisations and regular individuals sponsor their rations.

As per the Ni-kshay Mitra programme, volunteers can sponsor a basket for a TB patient for Rs 700. The materials in the basket include cereals, 3 kilogram of millet, 1.5 kilo of pulses, vegetable oils, groundnut, and milk among other things.

The minister added that the NIRT was using new technologies to inform people about the alerts for tuberculosis on the webpage.

The Center was conducting a mock drill on Tuesday to see whether oxygen, medications, PPE kits, and other supplies needed to combat the Covid -19 pandemic were readily available, according to Dr. Pawar, who also said that there were an increasing number of Covid -19 cases in China.

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