Mumbai: Mumbai has recorded a 28% drop in multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases over the last three years, with annual resistant cases falling from 5,698 in 2022 to 4,080 in 2025.A total of 1,093 drug-resistant patients were on the newly introduced BPaLM regimen, which cuts down treatment time from 18 months to six months. Others did not qualify for it, as per the guidelines, because they were either paediatric patients under the age of 14, had extrapulmonary TB (EPTB), or had prior exposure to bedaquiline, which is a primary medicine of the new drug combination. The overall TB cases in the city have also dropped: 63,575 in 2023; 60,633 in 2024; and 54,390 in 2025, of which 48,835 are residents of Mumbai. But there has been a marginal increase in EPTB—from 38% of all TB cases in 2024 to 40% last year. About 6% were paediatric cases. Frontline workers attribute the decline in DR-TB cases to potential underdiagnosis caused by a shortage of CB-NAAT cartridges—automated rapid diagnostic tools—on the part of the central TB division. “There is also underdiagnosis of EPTB cases. Private doctors and labs tied up with BMC to test for them. But in the last two years, they have not received their dues from BMC. So, that testing has stopped,” said a TB department staffer. A top TB specialist in the city said biopsies for EPTB reduced last year because of these funding issues. However, executive health officer Dr Daksha Shah said the data shows that overall testing remains stable. Referring to data from both CB-NAAT and TrueNAT (a rapid, portable diagnostic test), Dr Shah noted that the city maintained a consistent testing of 2.2 lakh samples annually across 2024 and 2025. “We are confident that cases of DR-TB have reduced in the city and this is because of the efforts taken by the health department. Cases have been diagnosed early on CB-NAAT and the chain of transmission has been interrupted,” she said.
