Puducherry working towards TB-free status by 2030, says CM Rangasamy

Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said on Thursday that the Puducherry Health department was working towards making the Union Territory tuberculosis-free by 2030, and that his government was coordinating with the Centre on the national effort to eliminate the disease.

He was speaking after inaugurating a national conclave and policy dialogue on 'Universal Drug Susceptibility Testing using Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing for Tuberculosis' at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) in Puducherry.

According to the Chief Minister, TB incidence in the Union Territory declined significantly between 2015 and 2021. Of the 148 villages in Puducherry, 36 have already achieved TB-free status, he said, adding that sustained efforts were being undertaken to cover more villages in the coming years.

Mr. Rangasamy linked the local target to national goals, stating that achieving TB elimination would contribute significantly to the broader objective of building a developed nation by 2047. He also said Jipmer was playing an important role in the public healthcare sector.

Tuberculosis remains one of India's most serious public health challenges, and the country accounts for a large share of the world's TB cases. The Union government's National TB Elimination Programme has set a target of eliminating the disease in India by 2025, ahead of the global Sustainable Development Goal target of 2030. Drug-resistant forms of the disease are a particular concern, as they require longer, more complex and more expensive treatment, and are difficult to detect without specialised laboratory testing.

Universal Drug Susceptibility Testing, the subject of the Jipmer conclave, involves testing every person diagnosed with TB to determine whether the strain they carry is resistant to one or more of the standard medicines. This allows doctors to prescribe an effective treatment regimen from the outset, rather than switching drugs after a patient fails to respond. Targeted next-generation sequencing is a laboratory technique that can identify genetic mutations linked to drug resistance faster than conventional culture-based testing, which can take several weeks.

Jipmer Director Vir Singh Negi said in his address that universal drug susceptibility testing was an important step towards ensuring that every person diagnosed with TB was assessed for drug resistance. Early identification of resistance could support appropriate treatment decisions and help reduce treatment failure and further transmission, he added.

Nandish R. Pethani, founder of the Policy Resilience Foundation, highlighted India's progress in the fight against tuberculosis while drawing attention to the continuing challenge of drug-resistant TB. He said delays in testing, identification of resistance, treatment initiation and patient follow-up could have serious consequences, and stressed the importance of strengthening universal drug susceptibility testing.

Public health officials describe elimination targets as long-term commitments that depend on sustained case detection, complete treatment and follow-up of patients over many years. The Puducherry government has said it will continue to work with national agencies and institutions such as Jipmer to expand testing and surveillance across the Union Territory.