Gorakhpur: Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the country's best performing state in the 100-day TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan 2.0 after screening more than 31 lakh people and detecting 1.85 lakh new tuberculosis patients, including around 52,000 asymptomatic cases, senior health officials said on Monday.
The achievements were highlighted during a Technical Conclave on TB Elimination held at AIIMS Gorakhpur, where state government officials, clinicians, public health experts, private sector representatives and development partners reviewed the state's progress and discussed strategies for accelerating TB elimination.
Focus on technology and surveillance
Addressing the conclave, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education, Amit Kumar Ghosh, said innovation, technology, partnerships and community ownership were central to Uttar Pradesh's TB elimination strategy.
He said the state would continue to strengthen elimination efforts with a greater focus on early detection, early diagnosis, prompt treatment and continuous surveillance. He stressed the need to move beyond symptom-based screening towards proactive, population-level and risk-based surveillance.
Ghosh said TB elimination was not the responsibility of the health department alone but a broader social and developmental objective requiring participation from all stakeholders. He expressed confidence that the recommendations emerging from the conclave would help prepare an evidence-based roadmap for both Uttar Pradesh and the country.
Campaign reaches high-risk villages
According to the state health department, Uttar Pradesh covered 94 percent of its identified high-risk villages during the campaign, reaching 25,073 of the targeted 26,722 villages.
The state deployed 308 AI-enabled handheld X-ray machines that carried out 30.4 lakh chest X-rays, exceeding the target of 27.3 lakh scans. Screening also included asymptomatic individuals to improve early detection.
Officials said the campaign was supported by 1,414 upfront Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) centres, where 7.52 lakh people out of 8.19 lakh enrolled individuals underwent confirmatory testing.
TB elimination progress
State TB Officer and Joint Director (TB), Dr Rishi Kumar Saxena, said Uttar Pradesh was leading the country's TB elimination drive on the back of the recently concluded 100-Day TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan 2.0, which was launched on March 24 this year.
He said that between January and June 2026, the state notified 3.37 lakh TB cases against an annual target of seven lakh, achieving 48 percent of the yearly target and 96 percent of the pro-rata target for the period.
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Experts discuss next steps
The conclave, organised by AIIMS Gorakhpur, was attended by more than 60 participants, including senior government officials, clinicians, researchers and development partners.
Among the experts present were Padma Shri awardee Dr Rajendra Prasad and Dr Surya Kant Tripathi, Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at King George's Medical University, Lucknow.
AIIMS Gorakhpur Executive Director Maj Gen (Dr) Vibha Dutta (Retd.) said the institute would continue supporting the state government through clinical expertise and research to improve early diagnosis and treatment outcomes for TB patients.
The conclave featured technical sessions on diagnostics, treatment, private sector engagement and community mobilisation. Recommendations from these discussions will be used to strengthen the state's next phase of TB elimination efforts.
