Homeless tuberculosis patients in Delhi are struggling to access the Centre’s Nikshay Poshan Yojana because they do not have Aadhaar cards, bank accounts or mobile numbers, leaving many without the nutritional support meant to aid their recovery.
According to a public interest litigation filed by NGO Social Jurist through advocate Ashok Aggarwal in the Delhi High Court, 35 patients have not received nutritional support under the scheme, which provides ₹1,000 a month during treatment. It cited the India TB Report 2024, according to which only about 70% of notified TB patients receive assistance via direct benefit transfers.
At a shelter near ISBT Kashmere Gate, Ranjit Kumar, 26, who came to the city from Varanasi, U.P., for daily-wage work, is undergoing treatment but has not received benefits due to the lack of documents. “I started treatment, but I have not received the scheme benefit,” Mr. Kumar said. He has stopped working as his health deteriorated and now lives at the shelter with 60 other TB patients. Another patient at the shelter, Vijay, 50, from Motihari in Bihar, said he had been homeless for over 15 years. His wife and children left him after his health deteriorated.
Jatin Sharma, co-founder and director of Hausla Health Initiative Foundation, which runs a shelter at Geeta Ghat, said most homeless patients there were not receiving support under the scheme.
