The costly treatment of TB, that kills almost two people in every three minutes, is making the situation even worse in India. Despite revision of national Tuberculosis Control Programme, wherein a lot of patients are registered and are being monitored to fight the disease, hefty cost makes it difficult for poor patients to continue treatment.
WHO reports that India accounts for around one-fifth of global TB patients and every year around 2 million people acquire the ailment out of which 0.87 million are infectious. Lack of awareness and care leads to development of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR- TB) and its treatment is costly, toxic, and often unsuccessful for poor people.
For effective cure, TB treatment should be taken for a minimum of six months. If the patient stops taking medicine during these months the treatment fails to give desired results.
The comprehensive package for TB control in India includes DOTS strategy coupled with Stop TB strategy, and is implemented under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP).