US Ambassador to India Richard R Verma paid a visit to Sai Hospital in Dharavi slum in Mumbai where a US aid agency supporting a programme to test and diagnose HIV in patients suffering from tuberculosis (TB).

In India, approximately 50 per cent of deaths of HIV patients are due to TB, reinforcing the need to prevent, care and treat HIV and TB as co-infections. During his visit to the hospital yesterday, he met doctors, local health care workers and patients to discuss the magnitude of TB and HIV prevalence among the vulnerable poor in India, an official release said today.