A study on feasibility of involving male student volunteers in case holding in an urban tuberculosis programme.
Rajeswari Ramachandran; Chandrasekaran, K. ; Thiruvalluvan, E.; Rajaram, K.; Sudha, G.; Sivasubramanian, S.; Santha, T.; Prabhakar, R.
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease; 1997; 1; 573-575 .
This paper reports the feasibility of involving unpaid National Service Scheme (NSS) male student volunteers in a city-based tuberculosis (TB) programme in supplying drugs and retrieving non-complaint TB patients. Twenty five students were selected after assessing their attitude and were trained on TB drug delivery, home visits and motivation of non-complaint patients. Twenty three sputum positive patients identified in a medical camp were started on an 8-month short-course chemotherapy regimen. Students supplied the drugs on a weekly basis and defaulters were visited. The treatment completion rate was 83% and default retrieval was 57%. All patients had sputum smear conversion by 2 months and one relapsed during the 24-month follow-up.
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