Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) payments for TB

What is a Direct Benefit Transfer?

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is the way that the Government of India (GOI) provides targeted benefits to people. The government subsidy or benefit is transferred directly into the bank account of the beneficiary.

What Direct Benefit Transfer schemes are there for TB?

There are four Direct Benefit Transfer schemes for TB. Direct Benefit Transfer payments are processsed for eligible people through Nikshay, the National TB Information system.

The GOI launches new documents including a manual on Direct Benefit Transfer for TB

The four support schemes are:

1. Nikshay Poshan Yojana;
2. Incentives for private sector providers and informants;
3. Treatment Supporters honararium;
4. Transport support  for TB patients in notified Tribal areas.

Direct Benefit Transfer scheme - Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY)

The objective of the NPY direct benefit transfer scheme is to provide nutritional support to TB patients at the time of notification and subsequently during the course of their treatment.

The amount that is paid is Rs. 500 for each month of treatment and up to Rs. 1000 as an advance.

It is left to the discretion of each state as to whether they provide benefits in cash or in kind. For example Chhattisgarh provides food baskets as nutritional support. There is more about food for people with TB.

Some people have contacted the authors of this page to say that they have not received their money. All we can suggest is that people contact their provider to ensure that their details have been sent in to be included on Niskshay.

Does the amount that is paid need to increase?

Overall in 2019 Rs 462 crores were disbursed to 24.04 lakh TB affected individuals. This appears to be satisfactory. However, a trip to a market shows that Rs 500 is not enough to support the dietary requirements of someone who needs to consume 2,800 kcals a day. This is the amount which the NTEP recommends is needed by a TB affected individual to consume for a fast recovery.

So there are calls for this amount to be increased.[efn_note]Diptendu Bhattacharya, India: Flaws in nutritional scheme for TB patients show challenges in feeding the hungry in COVID-19 times, 2020, http://www.tbonline.info/posts/2020/9/12/india-flaws-nutritional-scheme-tb-patients-show-ch/[/efn_note]

Direct Benefit Transfer scheme - Incentives for Private Providers & Informants

Private providers are people such as Private Practioners, Hospitals, Laboratories or Chemists, who notify TB patients to the NTEP (previously the RNTCP) on Niskshay. An informant is any person who refers a presumptive TB case to a public sector health facility, and on testing they are found to have active Tuberculosis.

Treatment outcomes can be provided by qualified Practioners or Hospital or Clinics.

The objective of the scheme is to provide financial incentives for the notification and subsequent follow up until completion of treatment of TB patients who are diagnosed/treated by the private provider.

The amount that is paid is:

Rs 500 as a one time payment on notification (by Private Provider or Informant).

Rs 500 to the Private Practioner or hospital or clinic for updating the patient's treatment outcome.

Direct Benefit Transfer scheme - Treatment Supporters' Honorarium

The objective of this scheme is to provide an honorarium to treatment supporters for supporting TB patients.

The amount that is paid is:

Rs 1000 as a one time payment on the update of the Outcome of Treatment for drug sensitive TB patients.

Rs 2000 on completion of the Intensive Phase and Rs 3000 on completion of the continuation phase of the treatment for drug resistant TB patients.

The treatment supporter cannot be a salaried Government Employee. The treatment supprter is only eligible for incentives when there is a successful treatment outcome.

Direct Benefit Transfer scheme - Transport Support for TB patients in notified tribal areas

The objective of this direct benefit transfer scheme is to provide financial support as a transport allowance for TB patients belonging to notified tribal areas (in addition to the nutritional support provided under NPY).

The amount that is paid is Rs 750 as a one time payment at the time of notification.

Bank Accounts

As the amount of any benefit will be credited to a bank account, the beneficiary needs to provide details of their bank account so that it can be entered into Nikshay. The details of the beneficiary's Aadhaar card may also be collected, but the beneficiary cannot be denied any benefit because of the lack of an Aadhaar card.

If a beneficiary does not have a bank account in their name, their name may be linked to the bank account of one of their family members.

For children who do not have a bank account, the money can be paid to the bank account of a parent or guardian. The parent or guardian must not already have a bank account entered into the system.

Page Updating

This page was last updated in July 2022.
Author Annabel Kanabus

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