Agartala/Aizawl, Mar 25 (IANS): On an average, five percent of tuberculosis (TB) patients die each year in India's northeastern region, an expert said on Thursday.

"On an average, five percent of the total TB patients die in northeast India every year. The national average is also the same," TB expert Babul Das told IANS.

Das, who has attended many national and international scientific and medical events on TB, while quoting the World TB report 2015, said India continues to account for 23 percent of the global TB burden.

"Each year, about 2.2 million people develop TB in India and an estimated 220,000 (rpt 220,000) people expire due to the disease which clearly explains that more steps must be taken to check the ailment," he said.

The expert said that in most cases, due to lack of awareness and treatment, TB turned into cancer and HIV-positive, and many patients also die of a heart attack.

World TB Day was observed on Thursday across the northeast. Seminars, workshops and awareness rallies were held.

Das, who is also associasted with the Tripura health department, said that last year (2015), as many as 2,528 TB patients were diagnosed and put under treatment in Tripura.

"In 2015, at least 11 people died due to TB in Tripura. The success rate in the state is 89 percent," he added.

In Aizawl, Mizoram Health Minister Lal Thanzara said that at least 38 people died due to TB in his state last year.

"In 2015, around 2,090 people were found to be carrying the disease. Over 84 percent of TB patients were cured after treatment in the state last year," the minister said at a function held on the occasion of World TB Day.

He said that many modern equipment and machinery have been installed in district hospitals in Mizoram to treat TB patients.