National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP)

What is the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme?

National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) is the Government of India's programme for TB diagnosis, treatment, prevention and surveillance, run by the Central TB Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare through the National Health Mission. NTEP is the renamed Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme - the change of name in 2020 signalled the shift from controlling TB to eliminating it.

According to the Central TB Division, NTEP is guided by the National Strategic Plan 2017-2025 and organised around four pillars: Detect, Treat, Prevent, Build. Every service under it is delivered free of charge at government facilities and at identified private facilities, and every TB case in India - public or private - must be notified on the national Ni-kshay portal.

Key objectives

• Find every TB case in the country, including cases first seen in the private sector, and notify them on Ni-kshay.
• Treat all notified patients free of cost with a complete, quality-assured regimen until cure.
• Prevent transmission through contact tracing and TB Preventive Treatment for household contacts.
• Reduce the catastrophic out-of-pocket cost of TB illness for poor households.
• Build the laboratory, drug-supply and digital surveillance systems needed to sustain this.

Main features

• Free diagnosis - sputum smear microscopy, molecular NAAT testing, chest X-ray and drug-susceptibility testing at government facilities.
• Free treatment - daily fixed-dose combination regimens for drug-sensitive TB, and all-oral regimens for drug-resistant TB, supplied free for the entire course.
• Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana - Rs 1,000 per month nutrition support by Direct Benefit Transfer for the full duration of treatment.
• Ni-kshay Mitra under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, through which individuals, companies and institutions adopt patients and supply monthly food baskets.
• Ni-kshay portal - the national case-based surveillance system built by the Central TB Division with NIC and WHO India.
• Mandatory notification - private practitioners, laboratories and chemists are legally required to notify TB cases.

Who is eligible for NTEP?

You can access NTEP if:

• You have symptoms of TB - a cough lasting two weeks or more, chest pain, breathlessness, unexplained weight loss, fever or night sweats. Testing is free and needs no referral.
• You are diagnosed with TB of any kind - pulmonary or extra-pulmonary, drug-sensitive or drug-resistant, at any age.
• You are being treated in the private sector but have been notified on Ni-kshay - you remain entitled to free NTEP drugs and to Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana.
• You are a household contact of a TB patient - you are entitled to free screening and, where indicated, TB Preventive Treatment.
• You are an Indian resident. NTEP does not apply an income, caste or state domicile test.

You cannot apply if:

• You have not been notified on the Ni-kshay portal. Free drugs and the Rs 1,000 monthly benefit both flow from the Ni-kshay record; an untested, unregistered patient is not eligible for either.
• You want the cash benefit without a bank account. Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana is paid only by DBT into an Aadhaar-seeded account; for a child, the parent's or guardian's account is used.
• You are on TB Preventive Treatment for latent infection. Preventive medicines are free, but a person who does not have active TB disease is not eligible for the nutrition cash benefit.

Nobody with TB is refused free treatment for want of documents. Refusal to test or treat at a government facility is a grievance, not a rule.

What documents are required for NTEP?

How to apply for NTEP treatment and benefits

1. Note your symptoms - a cough of two weeks or more, fever, night sweats, chest pain or unexplained weight loss are the standard triggers for testing.
2. Visit any government health facility - Ayushman Arogya Mandir, primary health centre, community health centre, district hospital or a designated microscopy centre - and ask for a free TB test. No referral letter is needed.
3. Give a sputum sample for smear microscopy or molecular NAAT testing, and have a chest X-ray if the doctor orders one. All of this is free.
4. If TB is confirmed, ensure the facility notifies your case on Ni-kshay and gives you your Ni-kshay ID. Write it down.
5. Give your bank account details and Aadhaar number to the Senior Treatment Supervisor, treatment supporter or health worker so that Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana payments can start.
6. Collect your free anti-TB drugs and confirm your treatment supporter and the schedule of follow-up sputum examinations.
7. Bring your household contacts for free screening, and ask about TB Preventive Treatment for them.
8. Complete the full course - stopping early is what creates drug resistance. Call 1800-11-6666 if side effects make you want to stop.

How to get treatment if you are seeing a private doctor

1. Ask your private practitioner or laboratory to notify your case on Ni-kshay - notification is mandatory under Indian law.
2. Collect the Ni-kshay ID generated by the notification.
3. Ask for free NTEP-supplied drugs to be routed to you, or continue on your doctor's regimen while remaining registered.
4. Submit your bank details through the notifying provider or the district TB office so that Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana payments begin.

How much benefit does NTEP provide?

• Diagnosis: free, including molecular testing and drug-susceptibility testing.
• Drugs: free for the complete regimen - typically six months for drug-sensitive TB and considerably longer for drug-resistant TB.
• Nutrition support: Rs 1,000 per month under Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana for the full treatment period. The Ministry of Health has stated that this amounts to roughly Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000 per patient depending on regimen length.
• Energy Dense Nutritional Supplementation: food supplementation for the first two months for patients with a BMI below 18.5 kg/m2 at diagnosis.
• Ni-kshay Mitra support: monthly food baskets from adopting donors, extended in 2024 to household contacts of patients as well.

According to the Press Information Bureau, the enhancement of nutrition support from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 was expected to benefit around 25 lakh TB patients a year, with EDNS reaching about 12 lakh underweight patients, at an additional cost of about Rs 1,040 crore shared 60:40 between the Centre and the states.

How to check your NTEP or Ni-kshay status

1. Note your Ni-kshay ID from your treatment card.
2. Ask your treatment supporter, Senior Treatment Supervisor or the district TB officer to open your record on the Ni-kshay portal.
3. Confirm three things: that the case is notified, that bank details are entered and validated, and that follow-up examinations are recorded - continued monthly payments depend on recorded follow-up.
4. If a payment is missing, call 1800-11-6666 with your Ni-kshay ID.

Why NTEP nutrition payments get delayed

• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT transfer fails.
• Name mismatch between the Ni-kshay record, Aadhaar and the bank account.
• Follow-up examination not recorded on Ni-kshay - subsequent instalments are released against documented follow-up.
• Case notified but bank details never entered by the field staff.
• Account belongs to a minor - a child's payment goes to the parent's or guardian's account instead.

Help and grievance redressal

• Ni-kshay Sampark TB helpline: 1800-11-6666, toll-free, available in multiple languages; a missed call also works
• TB Aarogya Saathi app for treatment centres, entitlements and information
• District TB Officer for treatment, drug supply and payment grievances
• Central TB Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, via tbcindia.mohfw.gov.in

TB testing, TB drugs and TB follow-up at a government facility are free. No health worker, chemist or agent can charge you for NTEP drugs or for getting your name on the Ni-kshay portal.