Hrev_master


                           [Healthcare in Low-resource Settings 2014; 2:4796]                                             [page 55]

Advocating contribution 
of private sector in fighting
tuberculosis in India
Saurabh R. Shrivastava, Prateek S.
Shrivastava, Jegadeesh Ramasamy
Department of Community Medicine, Shri
Sathya Sai Medical College and Research
Institute, Kancheepuram, India

Dear Editor,

The global tuberculosis (TB) report revealed
that in the year 2013, almost 11.7 million new
cases of TB have been reported, of which India
accounts for more than a quarter.1 Similar
trends have been suggested even for drug
resistant TB.1 The disease has reached enor-
mous proportions in the country because of
the favorable environmental attributes, weak
public health care delivery system and limited
involvement of all stakeholders.2,3

The private sector plays a crucial role in the
Indian set-up as almost three-fourth of the
country’s population utilize private sector for
their health related ailments preferentially.2

In-fact, for India to accomplish the Millennium
Development Goal no. 6, the key strategy will
be to include private sector within the existing
strategies.4 Thus, to build linkages with the
private sector and other health care establish-
ments, the Revised National TB Control
Program (RNTCP) has initiated multiple
schemes, namely TB advocacy, communica-
tion, and social mobilization scheme; sputum
collection center scheme; sputum pick-up and
transport service scheme; designated
microscopy-cum-treatment center scheme;
laboratory technician scheme; culture and
drug sensitivity testing scheme; treatment

adherence scheme; slum scheme; TB unit
scheme; and TB-HIV scheme, to promote the
involvement of private sector.4,5 The basic idea
behind these schemes is to assist the private
sector financially and logistically to improve
the reach of the services to remote areas of the
country where public health sector is weak.4,5

The role of the program manager is crucial -
starting from the identification of the issues
that need to be addressed; joint planning with
the private provider; timely release of money;
and to ensure regular monitoring and evalua-
tion.2,4,5 In addition, the program managers
have attempted to widen the horizon of servic-
es by establishing linkages with multiple pro-
fessional associations for expanding the range
of services.1,2 Thus, periodic trainings/sensiti-
zation sessions have been also organized to
enlighten the private practitioners about the
provisions involved in RNTCP.2,4

In conclusion, incorporation of the private
health sector in country’s national program
can significantly improve the range and reach
of TB related diagnostic and therapeutic serv-
ices. However, this necessitates active supervi-
sion by program managers and health care
professionals to allow optimal participation of
the private sector. 

References

1. WHO. Global tuberculosis control report
2012. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health
Organization; 2012.

2. IIPS. National family health survey (NFHS-
3) 2005-06. Mumbai, India: International
Institute for Population Sciences Publ.;
2007. Available from: http://www.mea-
suredhs.com/pubs/pdf/SR128/SR128.pdf

3. Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS,

Ramasamy J. Implementation of public
health practices in tribal populations of
India: challenges and remedies. Healthc
Low Resour Settings 2013;1:e3.

4. TBC India. Managing the RNTCP in your
area. A training course (Modules 5-9).
Available from: http://tbcindia.nic.in/docu-
ments.html

5. TBC India. Guidelines for PMDT in India;
2012. Available from: http://tbcindia.nic.in
/documents.html

                                       Healthcare in Low-resource Settings 2014; volume 2:4796

Correspondence: Saurabh RamBihariLal
Shrivastava, Department of Community
Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and
Research Institute, Thiruporur-Guduvancherry
main road, 603108 Kancheepuram, India.
Tel./Fax: +91.988.422.7224. E-mail:
drshrishri2008@gmail.com

Key words: private sector, tuberculosis, India.

Contributions: SS, conception and design, draft-
ing of the article, review of literature, guarantor;
PS, drafting of the article, review of literature,
critical revision for important intellectual con-
tent; JR, general supervision of the research,
overall guidance in writing the manuscript. 

Conflict of interests: the authors declare no
potential conflict of interests.                     

Received for publication: 24 October 2014.
Revision received: 8 November 2014.
Accepted for publication: 8 November 2014.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 License (by-nc 3.0).

©Copyright S.R. Shrivastava et al., 2014
Licensee PAGEPress, Italy
Healthcare in Low-resource Settings 2014; 2:4796
doi:10.4081/hls.2014.4796

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