New Delhi, June 24 -- New Delhi: India will make new and off-patent tuberculosis drugs available only through government channels to curb resistance to the drugs and boost efforts to fight the disease, documents reviewed byMint showed.

"The drug should be used as per Standards of TB Care in India (STCI) guidelines with the conditional access through the National TB Elimination Programme only," the apex drug regulator said in a letter to all states and Union Territories.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) emphasised that the labels of all such TB drugs and their packaging should carry a warning in a box with a red background, stating: "For the use in National TB Elimination Programme only."

It said these medicines are critical...