India's TB burden is staggering. Every year , 1.8 million people get the disease ; and about 800,000 cases are infectious. Until recently , 370,000 died of it annually. An estimated 100 million workdays are lost to it, with the country incurring a huge cost -- nearly $ 3 billion . The direct costs are $300 million . Since its launch in 1998 through Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme , more than 14.2 million patients have been treated and 2.6 million lives saved with DOTS.(The Hindu,21 October,2012 )