Rs 57 crore unspent: Delhi uses less than half of its tuberculosis budget in 2025

Delhi utilized less than half of its allocated budget for the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) in 2025, with only Rs 51.32 crore out of Rs 108.27 crore spent, leaving Rs 56.95 crore unspent. Despite notifying 112,977 TB cases that year, the underspending highlights significant inefficiencies in fund utilization.

Reasons for this gap include delayed releases, administrative bottlenecks, and inadequate digitization and beneficiary identification, which hindered timely transfers of benefits. Additionally, some TB centers and hospitals faced delays in procurement and infrastructure development, contributing to the shortfall. The NTEP's national trend of underspending is a reflection of broader issues in TB management, with global targets calling for the elimination of TB by 2030.