The Centre itself increased the budget for the RNTCP in the Twelfth Five Year Plan, allocating it Rs.4,500 crore. Patting itself on the back, the DGHS says this amount is given “based on the physical and financial performance during the Eleventh Plan” and therefore indicates the success of the RNTCP. Energised by a certain degree of success, the RNTCP set grand targets during the Twelfth Plan. It aims to treat around 87 lakh TB patients and two lakh MDR TB patients. It has also planned to reduce the “delay in diagnosis and treatment of all types of TB cases”. The cost of this will be Rs.1,797 crore for anti-TB drugs, 62 per cent of which will be second-line MDR TB drugs, which most patients will find too costly to buy for themselves.
The Ministry’s projections of success are hopeful. The official annual status report brought out by the Central TB Division, entitled “TB India 2013”, says: “If the RNTCP is successful at achieving its objectives by the end of 5 years, modelling has indicated over the next 15 years that TB incidence may decline by around 30%, and MDR TB will be reduced by 50% as compared to 2010. This translates to 750,000 lives saved, 1.7 million TB cases and 100,000 MDR TB cases averted over 15 years.”
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