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As per the latest study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under its i-DRONE initiative, drone-assisted transport of tuberculosis (TB) sputum samples has been found to significantly reduce the time and cost of TB diagnosis in remote and hard-to-reach areas.
The study, conducted in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana in collaboration with AIIMS Bibinagar and the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP), demonstrated that the median turnaround time for TB diagnosis was reduced from 15 days to 5 days, while the mean out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by patients decreased from approximately Rs. 9,451 to Rs. 91, thereby improving timely access to TB diagnostic services.
The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
In another reply, she said, that the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 6 fact sheet indicators has been finalised by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) in line with government's data harmonisation Initiative
Ministry of health and family welfare (MoH&FW) conducts integrated NFHS, which provides data on health and family welfare and associated domains like characteristics of the population; fertility and fertility preferences; family planning; maternal and child health; nutrition; morbidity and healthcare; women’s empowerment, etc.
The National and State/UT Fact Sheets of sixth round of NFHS (2023-24) were released on May 29, 2026.
The indicators to be included in the NFHS-6 National and State and UT fact sheets were ?nalised on the recommendations of the TAC constituted for NFHS-6, comprising representatives from concerned Ministries or Departments including Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), ministry of women & child development (MoWCD), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India (ORGI), NITI Aayog, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) etc.
The TAC recommended ?nalizing the list of indicators for the Fact Sheets in line with the Data Harmonization initiatives of the Government of India (GoI), so as to avoid inconsistencies arising from fragmented and unharmonized data available across di?erent o?cial data sources. The TAC further recommended that the Fact Sheets are intended to present only key indicators, particularly those related to health and family welfare, so as to better highlight the key takeaways of the survey.
Additionally, the ministry of health & family welfare, after due deliberations, decided to adopt the prevalence figures of anaemia to be arrived from an independent survey conducted by ICMR utilizing the gold standard intravenous method for haemoglobin testing, she said.
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