The additional secretary of National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) and Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) has informed the State that the incentive for Tuberculosis informants is been revised to Rs. 500 to improve the figures of patients getting the treatment.

A letter to all officials has been issued under the National Health Mission which stated, “An incentive of Rs. 500 will be provided to any informant who refers probable TB cases to any public sector health facility and gets diagnosed as TB. It should be noted that in case there is no separate informant for a TB patient, the patient himself or herself will be informant in such a case and in such cases the patient shall be entitled for the incentive for informant too.”

The Department of Health and Family welfare said that the allowance for treatment support will be given separately at a rate of Rs. 1,000 for drug susceptible TB patients (both new and previously treated) and Isoniazid mono-resistant TB cases and Rs. 5,000 for drug resistant TB patients.

Additional secretary NACO and RNTCP, Sanjeeva Kumar, said that the benefits under this scheme will be delivered through Direct Benefit Transfer to the Aadhar linked bank account of the beneficiary.

The scheme also says that the informant, including the ASHA workers can facilitate referral of a presumptive TB patient to any Designated Microscopy Centre or a molecular testing laboratory. If a person is diagnosed as confirmed TB patient at any suchcentre and has not been notified earlier by the public or private sector in Nikshay, the informant would be eligible to get an incentive of Rs. 500.

Any member of community or civil society organisation, community-based treatment supporters registered on Nikshay can be informants. No salaried person from regular or recommended from the public sector can be chosen as informants.