Japanese drugmaker Otsuka Pharmaceutical aims to apply for approval of its tuberculosis (TB) drug delamanid in India within three months, a senior company official said, as calls grow for expanded access to the life-saving medicine.

India, which has the world's largest number of tuberculosis patients, plans to release the results of its first-ever survey mapping the prevalence of drug-resistant TB by December, two senior government officials said.

Oct 12 - Campaigners and a former official overseeing Asia's largest tuberculosis hospital in Mumbai say staff deaths there are being under-reported, highlighting India's growing struggle to contain multi-drug resistant forms of the contagious, airborne disease.

The case of a Mumbai tailor cured of an extremely resistant form of tuberculosis this week has revived debate over a new drug to which the Indian government has limited access, prompting calls for change.