Laboratory Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in India: Challenges and Opportunities

India is the highest TB burden country in the world in term of absolute number of incident cases that occur each year. It accounts for one-fourth of the estimated global incident TB cases in 2010. In India, TB control relies on passive case finding among individuals self-presenting to health care facilities, followed by either diagnosis based on clinical symptoms or laboratory diagnosis using sputum smear microscopy. Since RNTCP relies on sputum smear microscopy for diagnosis, categorization of patients and assessment of treatment progress, the credibility, success and sustainability of the programme depends on the strength of the laboratory network.