By IANS
New Delhi : The Revised National TB Control Project (RNTCP) will go on till March 2012 as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) Thursday approved its continuation for another five years.
"The CCEA today gave its approval for continuation of the RNTCP for five years, from April 2007 to March 2012, in the States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal and for implementation of Public Private-mix (PPM) in six states by Indian Medical Association (IMA) with grant assistance from the Global Funds for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM)," an official release said.
The cost of the project is Rs.1.09 billion, out of which, the cost of implementation of RNTCP will be Rs.917.90 million and the cost of the PPM project in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh would be Rs.174.40 million.
The direct benefit for the project will be treatment of 440,000 TB patients during the project period of whom at least 374,000 patients would be cured, it said, adding that this will result in averting at least 80,000 deaths of whom 40,000 would be adults.