- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, September 18, 2022: Tripura Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and officials on Saturday enrolled themselves as ‘Ni-Kshay Mitra’ through the web-portal (www.nikshay.in) in a ceremony at the Raj Bhawan here in Agartala city to provide holistic support to TB patients including nutritional food. Governor SN Arya also handed over food baskets to two child patients suffering from tuberculosis at Raj Bhawan on Saturday.
Tuberculosis or TB is an infectious disease but with proper treatment at the right time, this disease can be completely cured. This is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the target of making a “TB-Free India” by 2025 with the aim of eradicating tuberculosis disease in India. The central government has pledged to make the country TB-free by ensuring additional nutritional support to TB patients.
Those who help tuberculosis patients with nutritious food are called ‘Ni-Kshay Mitras’. Their responsibility is to provide nutritious food to TB patients every month, as well as to raise awareness about TB, detect TB, provide vocational support, etc. This support will be given to the patients from 6 months to 3 years. Any person or collective body of the state, public representative, any public-private institution, office, district, sub-division, block, panchayat or any cooperative corporate, elected public representative, political party, NGO can act as a “Ni-Kshay Mitra”. To register as a “Ni-Kshay Mitra”, the individuals or organizations should register through the web-portal (www.nikshay.in). For details contact the TB center of the specific district. Through this campaign, Ni-Kshay Mitra will be able to provide locally available fresh vegetables, fruits and balanced meals to TB patients.
At present, there are a total of 1680 active TB patients in Tripura as on September 17, 2022 have agreed to receive community support and are in need of additional nutritional support. On September 17, 2022, Mission Officer of National Health Mission Subhasish Das, State TB Officer of National Tuberculosis Eradication Program Dr Banashri Das, Secretary to Governor TK Chakma and other officials of the Health department were present in this function on Saturday.