NEW DELHI : The health ministry is working on an initiative—called Nikshay Mitra— that will allow individuals to adopt Tuberculosis patients and look after their nutritional and medical needs in a bid to break the stigma surrounding the disease in India.
The ministry has created a digital platform on a public-private-partnership on which anyone in India can register themselves. “The idea is to destigmatize the TB diseases and it can be done only by community support, better treatment and care for TB patients by adopting them.
The health ministry is planning to launch this massive campaign on Nikshya Mitra in mission mode in the coming days to sensitize people.
So far 5,900 individuals have notified themselves as Nikshay Mitra. This way they can also provide nutritional support, education and counselling to TB patients," said a health ministry official.