title: Treatment practices in pulmonary tuberculosis by private sector physicians of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Majority of the qualified medical practitioners in the country are in the private sector and more than half of patients with tuberculosis (TB) seek treatment from them. The present study was conducted with the objective of assessing the treatment modalities in pulmonary tuberculosis by the private physicians in Meerut City, Uttar Pradesh, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out covering all the private physicians (graduates and postgraduates in Medicine and Chest Diseases) registered under the Indian Medical Association, Meerut Branch (n = 154). The physicians were interviewed by a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire about the treatment modalities practiced by them.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 43.5% private physicians had attended any Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) training in the past five years. Only 33.1% of them were aware of the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC). Fifty-three different regimens were used to treat the patients. Majority of physicians (76%) prescribed daily regimens while 24% administered both daily and intermittent treatment. None of the private physicians prescribed exclusive intermittent regimen. Eighty-seven different treatment regimens were used for the treatment of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) with none of them prescribing standard treatment under RNTCP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As majority of private practitioners do not follow RNTCP guidelines for treating TB, there is an urgent need for their continued education in this area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Muzaffarnagar Medical College, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India. ashmedico@gmail.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Garg
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chopra
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Bajpai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003625:Data Collection; D023801:Directly Observed Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011331:Private Practice; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000188:drug therapy; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents