Thin India presence at global TB conference

For a country with one of the highest TB burdens in the world, the presence of barely a handful of key officials from its Central TB Division was immediately noticeable at the 43rd, and largest ever, Union World Conference on Lung Health at Kuala Lumpur. […] Dr Madhukar Pai, an associate professor at McGill University, Montreal, who is researching the prospect of cheaper and more accessible diagnostics, expressed surprise that after taking such ambitious decisions as banning serological tests, the Indian government representation was inadequate. "The government deserves kudos for making TB a notifiable disease but then they need to come here and spell out their strategies," Pai said. "India's National Rural Health Mission has allocated sufficient funds and the TB control budget has doubled. Yet we are faced with a huge problem of drug resistance."

Read more at Indian Express