Roles and responsibilities of Beneficiaries and NTEP Staff to process DBT

In the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP), the beneficiaries and different staff members have different roles and responsibilities for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) processing.

Beneficiaries

• Provide their bank details of an active savings account to health staff for registration on Ni-kshay. This includes the account holder's name, Bank account number and IFSC code. 
  
  • If the beneficiary does not have a bank account, open one via Jan Dhan Yojana or India Post Payments Bank.
• Provide a copy of the passbook or cancelled cheque or any other supporting documents for the bank account.
• Provide a written declaration to forego the benefits or to credit the payments to a relative’s bank account.
• Check the payment transfers as and when made and troubleshoot if not receiving the payment.

Health Staff

This includes Multipurpose Workers (MPWs), Female Health Workers (FHWs), Senior Treatment Supervisor (STS), Senior TB Lab Supervisors (STLS), TB Health Volunteers (TB-HV), Data Entry Operator (DEO), Medical Officer TB Centre (MO-TC).

• Enrol patients on Ni-kshay with correct and complete details.
• Update treatment information.
• Facilitate opening a bank account, if required.
• Collect and maintain bank details of beneficiaries and give assurance that these details will be used for authentication and benefit payment.
• Spread awareness on scheme benefits and prerequisites to avail them.
• Update contact and treatment details of a transferred patient to ensure continued treatment.
• If the health staff is also the DBT Maker, then they need to ensure timely processing benefits. 
• Ensure that the beneficiary has received the DBT once it is processed by the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). 

District TB Offi­cer (DTO)

• Ensure that healthcare staff collects required details from beneficiaries and updates Ni-kshay.
• Review the data entered into Ni-kshay.
• Duplicate the notifications and approve the benefits payments.
• Monitor delays in payment and address the issues.
• Ensure DBT Maker and Checker are assigned for patient management in Ni-kshay.
• Plan, review and ensure budget/ funds for fi­nancial support to TB patients, treatment supporters and private providers.
• Coordinate with banks, district authorities et al to ensure that the required processes and interventions are smoothly implemented.
• Procure Digital Signature Certificates (DSCs) to deploy payments faster by reducing the time required for Print Payment Advice (PPA) printing, signing and delivery to the bank.

State TB Offi­cer (STO)/ State Programme Officer (SPO)/ Offi­cer-in-Charge

• Guide the district and health staff on DBT.
• Coordinate with departments to get support in the opening of bank accounts for beneficiaries.
• Plan, review and ensure budget/ funds for fi­nancial support to TB patients, treatment supporters and private providers.
• Monitor progress of transaction of ­financial incentives/ honorarium through DBT.
• Verify transactions using supervision, evaluations, comparing trends, identifying outliers, etc.
• Ensure that relevant nodal persons at district levels are provided with the Checker ID.
• Uptake the usage of DSCs for processing payments by supporting the procurement of DSCs for designated signatories.

Resources

• Direct Bene­fit Transfer Manual for National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme, MoHFW, Government of India, 2020.

Assessment