Document Type
Article
Department
Pulmonary and Critical Care
Abstract
In a densely populated urban area of Karachi, Pakistan, a questionnaire survey was made of the knowledge and practices of 120 private general practitioners about the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB). The majority knew that cough, fever and weight loss were the main symptoms of TB, but less than half knew that blood in sputum, poor appetite and chest pain were associated with the disease. Only 58.3% of physicians used sputum microscopy for diagnosing TB and 35.0% used it as a follow-up test. Only 41.7% treated TB patients themselves, the remaining referring their patients to specialists. Around 73.3% of the doctors were aware of the 4 first-line anti-TB drugs. Efforts to improve the knowledge of private practitioners, and strategies to enhance public-private collaboration forTB control in urban areas are urgently required.
Publication (Name of Journal)
Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal = La Revue De Sante De La Mediterranee Orientale = Al-Majallah Al-Sihhiyah Li-Sharq Al-Mutawassit
Recommended Citation
Khan, J.,
Malik, A.,
Hussain, H.,
Ali, N. K.,
Akbani, F.,
Hussain, S. J.,
Kazi, G. N.,
Hussain, S. F.
(2003). Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment practices of private physicians in Karachi, Pakistan. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal = La Revue De Sante De La Mediterranee Orientale = Al-Majallah Al-Sihhiyah Li-Sharq Al-Mutawassit, 9(4), 769-75.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_fhs_mc_med_pulm_critcare/126
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.