What ails India's battle against TB: Patients not completing treatment

Nearly one in five multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) patients put on treatment in the public sector were lost to follow-up (LFU). This means that they either did not start treatment or their treatment was disrupted for more than two months.

India has approximately 2.8 million TB patients, a quarter of the world’s total TB cases. Of these 147,000 cases (5.4 per cent) are MDR TB cases–resistant to the first line TB drugs rifampicin and isoniazid. These cases are more difficult and expensive to treat.

While the number of TB cases fell from 2015 to 2016, the number of MDR TB cases increased by 13 per cent, IndiaSpend reported in November 2017.

Of 24,354 MDR TB patients recorded in the treatment initiation register between 2014 and 2015, 11,446 (47 per cent) were successfully treated of which 7,796 (32 per cent) were cured and 3,563 (14 per cent) completed treatment.