This country saw a 25 percent reduction in annual TB case notification between 2019 and 2020, indicating that potentially thousands of cases were missed, Scroll portal reviewed.

Successive waves of Covid-19 have disrupted life in India and around the world, with signs of depletion everywhere, whether in the economy, daily life or health services, the site noted.

In that sense, efforts to control Covid-19 have disrupted health services assigned to other diseases such as tuberculosis.

According to data from the National Health Mission’s Health Management Information System, there was a 45 percent decrease in patients registered for TB treatment in June 2020.

Beyond the numbers, people affected by TB face challenges such as lack of availability and uptake of treatment in a timely manner, among others.

TB treatment lasts between six and 24 months and in order to be cured, affected people cannot skip even a single dose, the website explained.

Also, this treatment is toxic and has side effects such as nausea, mood swings, possible vision problems and hearing loss and damage to mental health, so it is a huge task.

The Indian public healthcare system is overburdened with limited human resources and infrastructure to cope with Covid-19 and therefore the public sector is often unable to meet the healthcare needs of those affected by tuberculosis.

In addition, drug resistance is one of the biggest challenges in the battle against TB, a disease that kills more than 1,200 Indians daily.

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