Jaipur: The state health department reported 6,547 gram panchayats to the Centre for official TB-free recognition in 2025 as part of an intensified rural tuberculosis control drive.“The state govt marked these 6,547 gram panchayats as TB-free in 2025, and only after the Centre’s approval, they will be declared as TB-free,” said Dr Purshottam Soni, state nodal officer (TB), health department.The state said the panchayats were identified using the Centre’s six benchmarks for TB-free status. A gram panchayat qualifies only if it meets all public health indicators tied to case detection, treatment, testing and patient support.Under the norms, the presumptive TB detection rate must be 30 or more per 1,000 population, while the TB notification rate must be 1 or less per 1,000. Drug susceptibility testing must cover at least 60% of all notified TB patients.At least 50% of eligible patients must receive support under Nikshay Poshan Yojana, with at least one payment made to each covered beneficiary. The guidelines also require 100% distribution of nutrition kits under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan nutrition support programme.The treatment success rate must be at least 85% among notified TB patients.Health officials said the criteria are designed to ensure strong performance not just in identifying TB cases, but also in diagnosis, nutritional support and treatment completion.
