In a big boost to the tuberculosis control programme, the Supreme Court on Monday said all new tuberculosis patients will get doses of drugs on daily basis instead of thrice a week.

Directing daily doses of fixed drugs combination treatment, Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said all patients who were getting treatment under thrice-a-week-dose schedule would switch over to daily doses regimen in nine months.

The bench ordered the switch over following a PIL by Raman Kakkar, who is associated with the revised national TB control programme.

The court order came even as Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for the central government, told the court that the new regime could be implemented only in a phased manner.