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TB Claims 900 Lives in India Daily: Dr. Ramadoss

by Medindia Content Team on Apr 30 2008 3:09 PM

Although there has been a decline in the rate of tuberculosis-related deaths in India since 1990, approximately 900 people still die from the disease every day in the country, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Friday, PTI/Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies reports.

The World Health Organization's 2008 global TB report shows that the number of annual TB deaths in India has decreased from 4.2 million in 1990 to 2.8 million in 2006, Ramadoss told India's Parliament. Ramadoss said that implementation of the DOTS strategy has helped to decrease the number of daily deaths from 1,400 to the current level of 900.

Recent studies have shown that the number of multi-drug resistant TB cases has not increased over the past few years, Ramadoss said, adding that MDR-TB cases are estimated to make up about 3% of all new TB cases. He said that MDR-TB is diagnosed in between 12% and 17% of recurring TB cases.

According to Ramadoss, increasing access to the facilities provided under India's Revised National TB Control Program means that nongovernmental groups, private sector organizations and medical colleges need to become more involved.

Source-Kaiser Family Foundation
SRM/L


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