A panel discussion on partnership to treat TB at the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health ended in a heated debate over unavailability and unaffordability of improved TB drugs in India.

Apart from KEM, Nair Hospital, Sion Hospital and Govandi’s Shatabdi Hospital will be able to administer bedaquiline to drug-resistant tuberculosis patients.

March 14, 2016 - In an unusual marriage of resources, over 1,000 chest physicians from 320 hospitals have joined hands with the BMC to eradicate the scourge of tuberculosis from the city. The initiative has already yielded the desired results with 1,500 patients - of the 20,000 that had been notified as part of the plan -- having been identified as having developed resistance to drugs. Early detection will help doctors take measures and ensure that these 1,500 patients do not slip into the next stage - extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB.

In an alarming development, doctors at the civic-run KEM Hospital have found 18 women being infected with a deadly strain of the tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in their breasts. All this while lumps in the breasts were largely associated with cancer. The 18 women, aged between 20 and 40, were found to be infected with TB in the breasts after the hospital conducted tests on 106 women, who had complained of lumps in the breasts.

The depressed 16-yr-old boy, who was admitted to the Sewri hospital, had told his mother that he had lost all hope of recovering.