NEW DELHI: A group of Indian and British parliamentarians have called upon their Governments to step up the fight against tuberculosis that kills thousands of people globally every year. Towards this end, they will form an inter-parliamentary caucus.

The call came at the end of a meeting between a six-member British delegation and some members of the Indian Medical Parliamentarians Forum, a group of 28 medical practitioners in Parliament, on Tuesday.

Chairperson of the forum M. Jagannath said the caucus would urge the Government to allocate more funds to the health sector to eradicate the disease and involve more non-governmental organisations in the fight against TB. "We can also write to the Government to allow the MPs to spend some funds from the MPLAD scheme on drugs purchase," he said.

Co-chair of the U.K. All-Parliamentary Party Group on TB Nick Herbert said as people's representatives it was their duty to press for action to save 14 million lives worldwide. "As British MPs, we are keen to work with our colleagues from other countries to help persuade our governments to step up the fight against TB. This is a global disease that does not respect borders."

TB re-emerges in U.K.

TB had re-emerged in a big way in the U.K. in the recent years. As of now, there were 9,000 reported cases. "The re-emergence suggests the need for action and it has also been far too long time that no new drugs have been developed. There is an urgent need to develop a vaccine to shorten the drug regime," Mr. Herbert said.

After signing the International Call to Stop TB, R. Senthil, MP and Forum convener, said the elected representatives had to make TB control a priority in their constituencies. "As leaders, it will be our responsibility to raise visibility for TB control within Parliament and keep a track of the programme to ensure that our lives are saved."

The meeting was co-hosted by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies and the Centre for Sustainable Health and Development.

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