Lucknow, Jan 4 : Uttar Pradesh notified 6,24,490 TB patients in 2023 which is the highest among all states in the country. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who also holds the health portfolio, said 'This is the highest number of notifications made under the programme in the country so far within a year.' He gave credit for this achievement to the hard work of the state and district level officials as well as the active participation of village heads. Pathak said that the Central TB Division had given the target of notification of 5.50 lakh TB patients to Uttar Pradesh in 2023. In 2023, the maximum number of TB patients were notified in Lucknow at 28,283 whereas in Agra 27,231, Kanpur Nagar 24,624, Aligarh 19,282, and in Ghaziabad, 19,191, TB patients were notified. In 2022, about 5.23 lakh TB patients were notified in the state. Pathak said that integrated Nikshay Day organised on the 15th of every month at health centres, identification of TB patients during Dastak campaign and running active case finding campaigns from time to time also played a big role. 'The initiative of TB-free panchayat has also been helpful in this because now there is a competition among the village heads to make their villages TB-free,' he said. The decision to set up State TB Training Demonstration Centres in Lucknow and Gorakhpur has been taken which will further accelerate the TB eradication programme. /IANS