Coverage, delays and implementation challenges of 'Direct Benefit Transfer' in the National Tuberculosis Elimination...

Food insecurity and undernutrition both contribute to the large tuberculosis burden in India. Indian government rolled out the direct benefit transfer (DBT) programme "Nikshay Poshan Yojana" on a national scale on April 1, 2018 largely to provide nutritional support. Hence, it was proposed to take up this study in Western Maharashtra (Pune district) to study the coverage, delays and implementation challenges of 'Direct Benefit Transfer' in the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme as there have only been a limited number of studies conducted regarding the same.

This mixed methods study was conducted at Tuberculosis Units (TUs) under District Tuberculosis Officer (DTO) in Western Maharashtra (Pune district) for the duration August 2020 to September 2022. A total of 3373 participants were included for the quantitative component. For qualitative component In-depth interviews of key informants (healthcare providers involved in the implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) for patients and care givers was done and explored using thematic analysis.

The total coverage was found to be 76.81%. The health providers reported staff related challenges (overburden and non-cooperative staff), bank related issues (local and cooperate banks not involved in the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) loop and lack of bank account), patient related issues (fear of being scammed), the DBT process (lengthy and complex) and software related issues as major hurdles involved in the scheme's implementation. The challenges to the implementation of DBT reported by the beneficiaries (TB patients) were lack of awareness and disbelief about the scheme, bank related issues (lack of bank account and necessary documents to open account), financial challenges (job insecurity, loans), physical challenges (weakness) and delays in delivering the benefit due to software errors.

In the present study the DBT coverage was very encouraging. The common challenges identified by the staff members and patients in the implementation of the scheme were lack of awareness about the scheme, bank related issues and software issues. To increase the coverage of DBT, it is vital that these issues be resolved.