Gumla: A vegetable and fruits merchant from Simdega district is helping tuberculosis patients recover by funding their nutritional kits. Bharat Prasad, 48, has adopted 2,200 TB patients since 2024 and funded their nutritional kits under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (PM-TBMBA) as a Nikshay Mitra, officials here said.Nutritional kits are provided to TB patients for a duration of six to eight months. The list of patients Prasad has adopted is available with the Simdega sadar hospital.Rolled out in 2022, the PM-TBMBA has opened the doors for individuals, organizations, or corporates to adopt TB patients. The donors, known as Nikshay Mitras, are mandated to provide nutritional support, vocational training, and diagnostics for six months to three years to support recovery and reduce stigma.“Since September 2024, I began adopting TB patients and began funding their nutritional baskets as prescribed by the govt,” Prasad said. He further said that the donations are his way of giving back to the society. “I have not married and my parents have passed away. God has given me enough which I could share with the need.”District TB officer Dr. Silwant Ekka acknowledged Prasad’s acts of kindness. “Our office had given a list of around 2200 TB patients which were adopted by him. He has funded food baskets during their course of their treatment for six months. Each food basket contained prescribed flour, edible oil, jaggery, peanuts, gram and milk powder. The National TB Elimination Program underscores the importance of public support, and Prasad’s generosity has been a help for many,” he said.It was during covid-19 lockdown in 2020 when Prasad first started doing social work, he said.“During the lockdown, seeing how many suffered for food and other resources, I began helping the needy through food distribution drives across the district,” he said. Since February 22, he has been running a free Dal-Bhat Kendra for the farmers coming to the town area to sell their crops from rural areas.
