The much-delayed daily regimen of tuberculosis will be rolled out by the government in a phased manner across the country by October this year. The rollout of the daily drug therapy, considered a game changer in the fight against tuberculosis by experts, doctors and activists, was to be piloted under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) in five states by March, after a delay of roughly two years.

Health organizations, public health experts and patient groups have asked the government to take action to reduce the risk of healthcare workers from contracting tuberculosis at Mumbai-based Sewri Hospital - Asia's largest TB hospital. This comes in the wake of the recent death of a senior doctor who died of a potent form of multi- drug-resistant TB, falling prey to the infection which he reportedly acquired at the hospital.

MUMBAI: After a slash in India's healthcare budget and key public health initiatives, now the country's ambitious tuberculosis control programme is facing a serious challenge, which could jeopardise supply of medicines, and lead to inadequate diagnostic services for TB patients.

MUMBAI: Some multinational companies (MNCs) have been delaying the launch of life-saving drugs in India years after getting monopoly rights, while cheaper generic versions of exorbitantly-priced medicines are going off the shelves under the product patenting law.

A new study points to an alarmingly high burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) among HIV-positive patients at antiretroviral therapy (ART) centres, and provides evidence that primary transmission is the cause of DR-TB in as many as one in four newly-diagnosed TB patients.