A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge about Drug Compliance on DOTS Therapy among T.B. Patients Attending DOTS Centre in Selected Hospital, Gurugram
Introduction: Good health is rightly regarded as a treasure. Our physical, economic and social well-being is directly related to it. In an age when someone believe that he/she has the tools to conquer most of the diseases, the myth of ancient scourge related to Tuberculosis (TB) still causes approx 2 million deaths every year, more than any other single infectious organism, reminding us that we still have a long way to go. Even we have dots therapy to treat TB effectively; we are powerless to eradicate this lethal infection. TB is not only a problem for the person suffering from it or their own families but a public health problem of the entire world. It is a barrier to social – economic development and the greatest burden of tuberculosis incidence and mortality in India is in adults aged 15 – 60 years which include the most productive members of society. The Government of India has launched program, to control TB in India in 1993 named as Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) and adopted the internationally recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short course therapy (DOTS), mainly focused on providing free sputum smear microscopic test for identification as well as high quality drugs to treat AFB free of cost. Tuberculosis is the second most leading cause of deaths worldwide after HIV/STD infections. Roughly 13.2 million (new and old cases), new cases 9.2 million every year is affected globally. About 1/3rd of the world’s population is infected with mycobacterium tuberculi. Approximately one in every 10 of these people will develop symptoms of TB, which is mainly consist of chronic cough, severe weight loss, diaphoresis and progressive irreversible pulmonary damage. TB has not got the requisite attention because it is a disease of the poor and the downtrodden, which do not have adequate influence with policy makers. Current detection and cure rates: - The detection rate in the state of Delhi is 296 per 100,000 populations. (Ref - Annual report, RNTCP program, Govt. of India-2008).Operation ASHA’s detection rate is 360 per 100,000. Covering 50% of all the TB patients in South Delhi, and the government and remaining NGOs are treating the rest.Objectives1) To assess the knowledge about drug compliance on DOTS therapy among TB patients attending DOTS centre in selected hospital, Gurgaon.2) To find out the association between the knowledge with socio-demographical variables.Material and Methods: Descriptive research design was used to assess the knowledge about drug compliance on DOTS therapy among TB patients attending DOTS centre in selected hospital, Gurgram. Convenient sampling technique was used to select 60 TB patients of District Hospital, Gurgaon, Budhera. Informed written consent was taken from each student. Result: The finding of the study revealed that Reveals that mean knowledge score is 15.22 approx., median is 15 and SD is 3.1 approx. Conclusion: On the basis of total mean knowledge score it inferred that knowledge score about drug compliance on DOTS therapy among TB patients attending DOTS centre was good