Cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis not increasing

The number of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) cases are not increasing in the country and are less than three percent of the new TB cases, parliament was informed on Tuesday.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Health Minister J.P. Nadda said: "The estimated proportion of multi drug resistant TB cases in India is not increasing. It is less than three percent among new TB cases and between 11 to 19 percent among retreatment TB cases."

Programmatic management of drug resistant TB (PMDT) services are provided under the revised national TB control programme (RNTCP) throughout the country, he said.

Prevalence of TB in India has come down from 586 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 211 per 100,000 population in 2013, the minister said.

Mortality rate has reduced from 42 per 100,000 population to 19 per 100,000 population during this period, he added.

The estimated incidence of TB has also been declining, he said.