The National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) is a public health initiative and a flagship component of the National Health Mission (NHM), managed by the Central TB Division under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It is a scheme aimed at eradicating tuberculosis (TB) in India by 2025, five years ahead of the global Sustainable Development Goal target of 2030.
The NTEP evolved from the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), which was launched in 1997 to overcome the deficiencies of the original National TB Programme (NTP) of 1962. The RNTCP adopted the internationally recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) strategy. The RNTCP was officially renamed the NTEP on January 1, 2020, to reflect the government's commitment to elimination rather than just control.
The program's mechanism is guided by the National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2017–2025, which focuses on the themes of "Prevent, Detect, Treat, and Build pillars". The NTEP provides free-of-cost, quality TB diagnosis and treatment services across the country. Key provisions include the provision of free diagnostics, such as the rapid molecular tests CBNAAT and TrueNat, and quality-assured drugs. It also provides financial assistance of ₹500 per month to all notified TB patients for nutritional support through the Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY), which was introduced in April 2018.
The NTEP connects to the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (PMTBMBA), which was virtually launched by President Droupadi Murmu on September 9, 2022. This Abhiyaan is a community-involvement initiative that encourages individuals and institutions, known as Ni-kshay Mitras, to adopt and provide additional support to TB patients. The program has undergone a recent change with the adoption of shorter, all-oral treatment regimens for Multi-Drug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB), reducing the duration from 18–24 months to 9–11 months for eligible patients.