Health Seeking Behaviour Of Seriously Ill Pulmonary & Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis Patients Those Who Are Admitted In Thanjavur Study

Background: Tuberculosis is one of the biggest enigma facing mankind and it is the 5th most common cause of death worldwide. The present study aims at: 1.Studying the patients knowledge about tuberculosis, 2.Estimating the time taken for the patients to approach any health care system after their onset of symptoms, 3.Estimating the time taken by the health care system to process the samples collected and confirm the diagnosis of tuberculosis,4.Estimating the time taken by the health care system to start the treatment regimen once the patient has been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Methods: Patients of seriously ill pulmonary & extra pulmonary tuberculosis those who are admitted in Thoracic Medicine department Ward , in Thanjavur Government Medical College Hospital, were confirmed by sputum smear examination , chest X ray and CT chest. Results: A total of 50 tuberculosis patients were involved in this study. The patients were asked to answer a set of questions from a standard questionnaire (USAID TB Care - II ).The study identified that only 32% had some awareness about tuberculosis, its causes, symptoms, mode of spread, diagnostic facilities and the treatment modalities available for it. The remaining 68% didn't have awareness about tuberculosis. It is observed from the study that 26% of the patients took 1-2 weeks to approach a health care system after the onset of symptoms , 32% of the patients took 2-4 weeks and 42% took more than 1 month. For26% of the patients, the health care system took 1-6 days to confirm the diagnosis of tuberculosis , for 32% it took 1-4 weeks and for 42% it took more than 1 month. About 6% of people are presented with severe life threatening condition like hydropneumothorax and 60 % of people were consulted first in government health provider in that only 32 % people only got the information regarding tuberculosis , remaining 68% of people are unaware about the symptoms and TB treatment . Poor Accessibility for TB diagnosing health facility (per 1 lakh population), for that people have to travel minimum of 10-15 km to reach the GH/ Block PHC /CHC. Conclusion: The present study findings clearly indicates that the knowledge about tuberculosis among patients is not sufficient and this was the cause for delay in the patients to approach the health care system after the onset of symptoms. There was also a delay in the health care system to confirm the diagnosis of tuberculosis in the patients. However, majority of the health care Provider are not giving the adequate information regarding Tuberculosis and Follow up. Thus, the study emphasizes the 1).Need for creating awareness about tuberculosis among the public, right from school level.2).Should create awareness through media (cinema theatres & TV) like Tobacco control.3).Should create the facility for diagnosis of Tuberculosis in all primary health centre level and immediately starting the treatment their itself.