Over two lakh people died due to tuberculosis in India in 2014, the highest in the world, the government said in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, March 1 .
In a written reply on TB deaths in the country, Health Minister J P Nadda, said, “As per World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, for the year 2014, deaths due to TB were estimated in India to be 2,20,000 which is higher than any other country.”
However, he said that this high number is because of the large population, even though the incidence, prevalence and mortality due to TB in India have been consistently declining over the last 15 years.
He stated that India has also achieved the Millennium Development Goals and has halved the prevalence and mortality as compared to 1990 levels.
“Allocation for the revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme is part of the National Health Mission communicable disease flexipool,” the minister said.
The actual expenditure under the programme from 2012-13 to 2014-15 is Rs 710.15 crore, while it was Rs 640 crore in 2015-16.
(Feature image: X-ray of TB infected lungs / Source: Reuters)