The emergence of drug resistant TB, and particularly MDR-TB, has become a significant public health problem in a number of countries and an obstacle to

effective TB control. A large scale population based survey in the state of Gujarat and Maharashtra has indicated multi drug resistance levels of <3% among new TB cases and 14-17% among previously treated TB patients. Though the rate of MDR-TB is relatively low in India, this translates into a large absolute number of cases, with an estimated annual incidence of 131,000 cases of MDR TB in the country.