PATNA, July 3 -- Bihar chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit on Thursday directed all government departments and district administrations to work in mission mode to achieve the target of one crore tuberculosis (TB) screenings by August 14, 2026, as part of the TB-Mukt Bharat Abhiyan aimed at making Bihar TB-free, said a statement issued by the chief secretary's cell of the cabinet secretariat department. Reviewing the state's TB screening programme, the chief secretary noted that against the target population of 2.76 crore, only 0.39 crore people (14%) have been screened so far. Expressing concern over the slow pace of progress, he said that most districts have recorded less than 20% screening coverage and stressed that strong inter-departmental coordination would be crucial to achieving the ambitious target. To accelerate the campaign, Amrit directed district administrations to appoint a senior deputy collector or nodal officer for every block to monitor daily and weekly screening targets. He also asked districts to prepare comprehensive micro-plans for conducting special screening camps in schools, hostels, Mahadalit habitations and prisons by leveraging all 674 RBSK (Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram) mobile health teams, while ensuring daily uploading of screening data on the Ni-kshay portal, the Centre's web-based patient management and surveillance system for TB. The chief secretary further directed that every Ayushman Arogya Mandir should conduct at least 10 TB screenings daily, while each mobile health team should screen a minimum of 100 persons per day. Modern molecular diagnostic technologies such as TruNAAT and CBNAAT should be used as the primary confirmatory tests, with sputum microscopy reserved for follow-up cases. To strengthen early detection among vulnerable groups, fixed X-ray units have been asked to conduct at least 20 X-rays daily, while handheld X-ray devices should perform 50 X-rays per day, the press release said. Amrit also assigned specific responsibilities to various departments....