It was an urgent and dire need to start diagnosing and treating drug-resistant TB (DRTB) patients in the community as the numbers were alarming and the public health sector had nothing to offer then. The PMDT is indeed a very good national program. I have been managing DR-TB patients under the Programmatic Management Of Drug Resistant TB (PMDT) since 5-6 years. However, there are certain issues that need to be addressed. The treatment regimen is long and difficult.
So sufficient time has to be spent on the initial The treatment regimen is long and difficult. So sufficient time has to be spent on the initial counseling of the patients. The burden of patients at any dot plus site being very high, this becomes difficult and therefore neglected. So a full-time counselor needs to be appointed for the same. It will help that patient to understand the illness and long course of treatment,…
