Notifiable disease reporting for private clinics TB notification on Ni-kshay, the IDSP and IHIP system, and what your district expects for other diseases.

A private clinic must notify tuberculosis. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's order of 7 May 2012 says that "the healthcare providers shall notify every TB case to local authorities i.e. District Health Officer / Chief Medical Officer of a district and Municipal health Officer of a Municipal Corporation / Municipality every month", and defines healthcare providers to include clinical establishments in the "private or NGO sectors and/or individual practitioners". Other diseases are notifiable under state law, which differs from state to state; this post covers TB in detail, explains the national surveillance system, and tells you what to ask your district about the rest.

Who must notify TB, and when?

Every provider who diagnoses or treats it. The Central TB Division's FAQ on TB notification answers "Who is expected to notify TB cases?" with "Every healthcare providers meaning clinical establishments run or managed by the Government (including local authorities), private or NGO sectors and/or individual practitioners". On timing it says: "On diagnosis or initiation of anti-TB treatment of a Tuberculosis case. Such reporting to the nodal public health authority to be done at least on monthly basis".

The definition of a case is wider than many clinics assume. The 2015 amendment to the order (D.O. Z-28015/2/2012-TB, 21 July 2015) counts a microbiologically confirmed patient, "OR A patient diagnosed clinically as a case of tuberculosis, without microbiologic confirmation, and initiated on anti-TB drugs". So a patient you start on treatment on clinical or X-ray grounds is a notifiable case.

• Already notified by the lab? Notify anyway. The FAQ: "Yes. As the public health measures are additive."
• Never see TB? The FAQ says practitioners "not routinely diagnosing / treating TB patients may give an undertaking regarding the same while agreeing to submit the information in future".
• Diagnosis turned out wrong? The FAQ says such cases "may be intimated to the nodal officer for TB notification".

The Central TB Division's FAQ for chemists on the later Gazette notification says "The Gazette mandates health facility, pharmacy and laboratories to notify each TB patient at the earliest", that facilities and doctors who do not notify "will attract the Gazette provisions", and that there are incentives for the provider "whoever notifies the TB patient". We could not retrieve the Gazette text itself from an official site on 31 Oct 2026, so we have not stated its penalty clause here; the TB Division's main FAQ answers "Yes" to whether punitive or legal action is possible.

How does a clinic notify TB?

The nodal officer is the District TB Officer. The FAQ lists the routes: hard copy by post, courier or hand; email from authorised persons; phone call, IVRS or SMS from authorised mobile numbers; and uploading directly on the Ni-kshay portal. The chemists' FAQ gives the phone route as 1800 11 6666 and says "Submission of information is mandatory; either electronically (online) or in hard copy (paper based)".

1. Find your District TB Officer. The FAQ says the list of nodal officers is on the Central TB Division website; if you cannot find yours, ask the State TB Officer.
2. Register once on Ni-kshay. On 31 Oct 2026 the portal's home page offered "New Health Facility Registration" and "New Informant Registration", with the helpline 1800116666.
3. For each case, record the Annexure II details: patient name (surname first), father's or husband's name, age, sex, a government ID number, full address with PIN, phone, date of diagnosis, date of treatment start, site of disease (pulmonary or extra-pulmonary), patient type, basis of diagnosis and treatment details.
4. Notify on diagnosis or treatment start, and in any case at least monthly, online or on paper to the District TB Officer.
5. Keep your own copy or acknowledgement of each notification in the patient's file.

Once you notify, the 2015 amendment says local public health staff will follow up: a home visit at the patient's convenience, counselling, adherence support, contact tracing and, where eligible, HIV testing and drug susceptibility testing, all entered in Ni-kshay. Tell the patient this at the time; it avoids a surprised call later.

What about other notifiable diseases?

The list of notifiable diseases, and whether a private clinic must report each one and how, is set by state public health laws and notifications, which we did not review for this post. Ask your District Health Officer or CMO in writing for the current list and the reporting route for private practitioners in your district, and keep the reply.

The national system those reports feed is the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), now run on the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP). The Ministry's release of 5 April 2021 calls IHIP "the next generation highly refined version" of IDSP, "tracking 33 diseases now as compared to the earlier 18", with "near-real-time data in digital mode". It describes data coming from health workers, "the doctors at the PHC/CHC/SHD/DH when the citizens seek healthcare", and diagnostic labs. Whether and how a private clinic reports into IHIP is something your district surveillance team can tell you.

Does notifying breach patient confidentiality?

No. Regulation 7.14 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 bars disclosure of a patient's secrets except in three cases, the third being "notifiable diseases", and adds: "In case of communicable / notifiable diseases, concerned public health authorities should be informed immediately." The chemists' FAQ says TB data is held in Ni-kshay and "Only authorized user of Nikshay" can see it. Notify the authority; do not share the diagnosis with an employer, a neighbour or a staff group. Our posts on the NMC conduct regulations and police or court requests for records cover the other exceptions.