Government committed to achieving zero TB deaths: Nadda

New Delhi: The government is committed to achieving zero tuberculosis (TB) deaths in the country by ensuring affordable and quality healthcare to all, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said.

He said this at a round-table for Members of Parliament, policy makers and eminent tuberculosis experts, hosted by the Global Coalition Against TB at Parliament House Annexe here.

"#GoI is committed to achieving zero TB deaths in as short a time frame as possible by ensuring affordable & quality healthcare to all.

"My heartfelt wishes to the entire team of Global Coalition for working on tuberculosis (TB) control in India and globally," Nadda later said in a series of tweets.

Tuberculosis epidemic in India is "larger" than what was previously estimated, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently said while asserting that the country is one of six nations which accounted for 60 per cent of new TB cases last year.

The Global Tuberculosis Report, 2016, which was released today, however, said the number of TB deaths and incidences rate continue to fall globally as well as in India.

According to reports, WHO statistics for last year give an estimated incidence figure of 2.2 million cases of TB for India out of a global incidence of 9.6 million cases.