Prem Neelkanth runs a food stall in a sprawling Mumbai slum but he also dispenses medicines to many patients there, so do the 12 women volunteers in Motinala slum of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

All of them are Directly Observed Treatment System (DOTS) providers, ordinary people who are given the task of ensuring that TB patients take their medicines on time. Supported by an army of nearly 4 lakh DOTS providers, 2,000 NGOs, 10,000 private practitioners, 11,000 peripheral laboratories, over 200 medical colleges and more than 100 corporate health facilities, India has achieved what was considered impossible a couple of decades back. According to the TB Joint Monitoring Mission, more than a million deaths have been prevented since the DOTS was started in India in 1997.

India is implementing the largest TB control programme in the world, which provides treatment for an additional 100,000 patients every month, with a treatment success rate of 86 per cent.

In 2004, one-fifth of the total cases treated in the world were in India. By December 2005, more than 97 per cent of the country (1,080 million in 616 districts) had access to DOTS. In 2005 the coverage was increased by 133 million and 69 districts.

However, the Joint Mission has strongly recommended continuous support to the programme and involvement of cadres of National Rural Health Mission for improving access and sustainability. These observations were made by the group of 20 international experts and 20 representatives of stake-holders from India which reviewed the programme for nearly two weeks.

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