TB patients allege non-payment of monthly nutritional allowance

Pawar said while ₹500 a month looks insignificant; it still helps as she spends ₹3,000-4,000 to meet her nutritional needs.

Mumbai: Many tuberculosis (TB) patients in the city and state have alleged non-payment of the nutritional supplement allowance ( ₹500) that they received every month from the government.

Savita Pawar (30), a resident of Worli, who has been a TB patient since 2008 and was diagnosed with multi-drug-resistant TB in 2018, said she enrolled for the allowance since she started her TB treatment at JJ Hospital in 2020.

The initiative, under the Nikshay Poshan Yojana, is aimed at providing nutritional support to TB patients and is part of the National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination programme of the Union Health Ministry with the aim of eliminating TB by 2025.

Savita Pawar (30), a resident of Worli, who has been a TB patient since 2008 and was diagnosed with multi-drug-resistant TB in 2018, said she enrolled for the allowance since she started her TB treatment at JJ Hospital in 2020.

“I used to promptly get the money every month since my enrollment but since October 2021, I haven’t received it. I go to the hospital daily for my follow-up and only after my repeated check with them, I received ₹1,500 in the last three days. ₹3,500 is still pending,” she said.

Pawar said while ₹500 a month looks insignificant; it still helps as she spends ₹3,000-4,000 to meet her nutritional needs. “I am surviving on one lung and my weight keeps fluctuating. I have to maintain a good diet to fight the disease. Daily, I need to eat egg, milk, fruit and vegetables,” she said.

Suresh S (39), accountant and resident of Chembur, said he has not received the allowance since December. “Every time I ask the health official at the TB office, they tell me I will get it soon. There are some issues that they are trying to resolve at the earliest. I have heard other patients too are facing similar issues when I went to collect my medicines,” he said.

Ganesh Acharya, TB Survivor/TB-HIV Activist, said non-payment of nutrition allowance has been an ongoing problem for tuberculosis patients for a while across the country.

“Time and again, we have been discussing and highlighting this issue with the health authorities at various forums. In Mumbai and Maharashtra, many TB patients told us about not getting the allowance in the last few months. Some have completed their multi-drug TB treatment and have not got the allowance even once,” he said.

Acharya said a TB patient needs a high protein diet. “Every patient needs at least two eggs and two bowls of cooked pulses, and milk every day. It is difficult for everyone to afford it. The allowance is less but does help such people,” he said.

A BMC health official has said there has been a technical issue that has been resolved now and the patients should receive the payment in the next few days.

Dr RS Adkekar, state TB officer said, “In the state, around 65-70 percent of TB patients have got the allowance. There is a certain percentage of TB patients who take treatment in private hospitals and do not want the allowance. The TB patients who have not received the allowance shall get it in the coming days. The percentage of such patients is very small.”