Nikshay Poshan Yojana Explained

Nikshay Poshan Yojana is a government scheme in India to provide 500 rupees per month for tuberculosis patients to buy food.

By February 2019 the programme reported that more than 10,000 people had received benefits in Delhi and 3800 were taking benefit in Sonitpur district.^{[1] [2]}

Responses

Since 2018 the patient advocacy group Survivors Against TB have publicly requested that the government increase the benefits of the programme and to make enrollment more routine for more patients.^{[3] [4]}

A 2018 evaluation of the participant registry found problematic data, including an inability to do data deduplication in the system.^[5]

In 2018 in Assam fewer than expected people had been enrolling in the programme.^[6]

Research

2018 studies in Delhi and Vadodara examined patient participation in the programme.^{[7] [8]} Both studies found that about half the eligible participants received payment.^{[7] [8]} Payment came for many people five months after the start of treatment.^{[7] [8]} Major barriers to getting payment included lack of bank accounts among patients and difficulty completing the registration to join the program.^{[7] [8]}

Further consideration

• Web site: Singh . Jyotsna . No Food on Plate for TB Patients Due to Non-implementation of Govt Aid . NewsClick . en . 24 March 2020.
• Web site: Nikshay Poshan Yojana - Incentives for nutritional support to TB patients . YouTube . Survivors Against TB . Hi . 29 October 2018.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Express News Service . Over 10,000 tuberculosis patients avail of nutrition assistance scheme . . 23 February 2019.
2. Web site: Sentinel Digital Desk . 3,867 beneficiaries covered under Nikshay Poshan Yojana - Sentinelassam . www.sentinelassam.com . en . 1 February 2019.
3. Web site: . TB survivors write to PM, seek enhancement of amount for them under govt scheme - ET HealthWorld . ETHealthworld.com . . en . 17 October 2018.
4. Web site: Bhattacharya . Diptendu . Madan . Vashita . Flaws in nutritional scheme for TB patients show challenges in feeding the hungry in Covid-19 times . . 11 September 2020.
5. Web site: Jain . Shruti . In Rajasthan, Duplication Plagues Centre's Scheme for Nutritional Support to TB Patients . . 8 July 2018.
6. Web site: Deka . Mahesh . Nikshay Poshan Yojana fails to find enough takers in Assam . NORTHEAST NOW . 27 November 2018.
7. Kumar . Rajesh . Khayyam . Khalid Umer . Singla . Neeta . Anand . Tanu . Nagaraja . Sharath Burugina . Sagili . Karuna D. . Sarin . Rohit . Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY) for tuberculosis patients: Early implementation challenges in Delhi, India . Indian Journal of Tuberculosis . April 2020 . 67 . 2 . 231–237 . 10.1016/j.ijtb.2020.02.006. 32553317 . 214314160 .
8. Patel . BH . Jeyashree . K . Chinnakali . P . Vijayageetha . M . Mehta . KG . Modi . B . Chavda . PD . Dave . PV . Zala . CC . Shewade . HD . Solanki . DM . Kumar . AMV . Cash transfer scheme for people with tuberculosis treated by the National TB Programme in Western India: a mixed methods study. . BMJ Open . 29 December 2019 . 9 . 12 . e033158 . 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033158 . 31888934. 209517965 . free . 6936995 .