India battles staggering tuberculosis burden (March 24 is World
TB Day) By Madhulika Sonkar, IANS, New Delhi : Hundreds walk
into the multi-chambered waiting room of a rudimentary chest
clinic in north Delhi's Gulabi Bagh, where the benches are
packed with patients and the sound of harsh coughing fills the
air. This is the capital's prime tuberculosis (TB) clinic that
sees over 500 patients every day. Even as success stories on the
Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) chemotherapy
under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme
(RNTCP) (1997) are shared, experts say the disease still casts a
long shadow over the country's health. Ashok Kumar, deputy
director general of the central TB control division under the
ministry of health and family welfare, feels DOTS still has
"miles to go" before the country can finally be declared TB
free. "To think that we can eradicate TB overnight in India is
neither practical nor possible. With the population size that we
have, it is important to be practic