Combining national, state schemes boosts Karnataka's TB fight

Bengaluru: Integrating the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) with Karnataka’s Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka scheme has had a positive impact on the overall management of tuberculosis patients, noted a paper published last month.

Published in Volume 22 of The Lancet Regional Health–Southeast Asia journal, March 2024, the paper was a result of an impact assessment study by officials from the Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare Services, Karnataka, in collaboration with ESIC Medical College and the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust, Bengaluru; and the Centre for Digital Health, Artificial Intelligence, Research and Training, Basaveshwara Medical College and Hospital, Chitradurga.

India, which has the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) cases, has set an ambitious target to meet the World Health Organisation’s 2030 goal to ‘End TB’ by 2025.

In Karnataka, the total number of TB patients notified stands at 80.4% of the expected target of 1,00,000 patients, according to the India TB Report 2023.

Hospitalisation costs form a major component of the expenses involved in treating TB in the state which, without government intervention, might be out of reach for families below the poverty line (BPL). 

To help address affected populations’ TB treatment costs, the state government made use of 43 treatment packages for TB-related cases under the ‘Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Arogya Karnataka’ (AB-PMJAY-ArK scheme). This scheme provides upto Rs 5 lakh per family per year for BPL card holders and Rs 1.5 lakh per family per year for APL card holders.

In a bid to assess whether the implementation of the scheme has had the desired impact of reducing patients’ out-of-pocket expenditure, the state health department conducted this study between January 2021 and December 2022. Researchers analysed 7,450 tuberculosis patients availing treatment under the scheme across the state to understand their treatment outcomes.

Over 95% of the total number of patients analysed were admitted at government health facilities.

A total of 7,230 patients were BPL card holders. Over 64% of the patients (5,024) were men, and nearly 30% patients undergoing treatment were aged between 46 and 60 years. 

The scheme coverage has provided a minimum cost coverage of USD 124.5 per patient, the paper noted.

Patient profile

1) 95% of patients analysed admitted at govt health facilities.

2) 7,230 patients were BPL card holders.

3) Over 64% of the patients were men.

4) Nearly 30% patients undergoing treatment were aged between 46 and 60 years.