India staring at another health disaster amid a raging battle with Covid-19

As India’s surging coronavirus caseload becomes an increasing worry for the globe, another health disaster is silently unfolding.

The world’s strictest lockdown crippled both routine and critical health services. More than a million children have missed crucial immunizations and hospital births have shown a sharp decline, indicating many women may have gone through unsafe childbirth at home. Outpatient critical care for cancer plunged 80% from February levels, the latest government data show.

But the biggest crisis is India’s longstanding battle with tuberculosis. The country has as many as 2.7 million TB patients currently, by far the most in the world, and