Involvement of Non-allopathic Private Practitioners under DOTS in an urban area of north India.

ABSTRACT

Background: In an urban area of a north Indian district (population 150,000), nine private practitioners of non-allopathic medicine, including five with no qualification and two private paramedical staff, were trained as per programme guidelines before being involved as treatment observers in the DOTS-based Revised National TB Control Programme and supervised. They were not given any financial incentive. Material and Methods: During 2002, they managed 185 TB patients (85% of the cases in the urban area) and amongst the 63 new smear-positive patients, the cure rate was 84%. Over a 6 month period, 6% of the total new smear-positive patients detected in the area were referred by these private practitioners. Results: Results suggest that non-allopathic practitioners and paramedical staff from the private sector can make a significant contribution to TB control, by increasing case detection and treatment observation.