MUMBAI: Eleven resident doctors of Sion Hospital are currently suffering from tuberculosis. And two of them are suffering from the multi-drug resistant strain of the disease.

MPs have voted against the government's policy of culling badgers in two pilot schemes in England.

It follows a highly-charged debate led by backbenchers in the Commons.

New Delhi: India is home to the highest number of tuberculosis patients who have become resistant to the most effective drugs available.

The first licence allowing farmers to shoot badgers in an attempt to reduce cattle TB is to be issued on Monday.

Badgers could be shot across England within weeks, barring a last minute legal challenge.

The national strategic plan for TB control for 2012-17 developed by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has raised the bar for tackling the fast- growing TB epidemic in the country. The main goal of the strategic plan is to provide universal access to early diagnosis and effective treatment.

According to the draft report of the fifth Joint Monitoring Mission (JMM) of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme , the strategic plan, if implemented in full earnest, would save about 7,50,000 lives over the next five years.

The fifth Joint Monitoring Mission (JMM) of India and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) has endorsed the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for TB control for 2012-17.

The JMM lauded the Government’s efforts in TB control but cautioned that successful implementation of the NSP requires urgent and emphatic expansion in the prioritisation, development, financing and deployment of innovative activities to rapidly detect and correctly treat cases, irrespective of care in public or private sectors. If implemented properly, the NSP can save 750,000 lives over the next five years and transform TB control in the country.