Hyderabad Urban DOTS (HUD) Project, Mahavir Hospital:

India’s Revised National TB Programme (RNTCP), introduced in 1995 means that TB treatment is now available to all, free of charge.  Cure rates are excellent for those who access the services.  However, many barriers to effective diagnosis and treatment for TB sufferers still exist – not everyone knows what TB is, that it is curable and where to go. This is why an innovative new project has been set up in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad Urban DOTS (HUD) aims to increase the number of ‘doorways to diagnosis’ for patients who might not otherwise access government TB services. The project does this by collaborating with other health providers and agencies to train them to refer people with TB symptoms. These ‘referral agencies’ include medical practitioners , native healers, homeopathic healers and nursing homes – anywhere that a patient might present with typical TB symptoms.

When a patient visits one of the referral agencies and TB is suspected they refer them to Mahavir hospital for diagnosis but the referral agency carries on being responsible for treatment and providing or arranging the DOT. In this way the patient will get better, while having a relationship with the referral agency which may be (for convenience or social reasons) better for them than going to an official ‘clinic’.

Click here to read about Syed Akbar, a local tailor and DOT provider

Click here to read about schoolgirl Sultana Begum, a patient at Syed's clinic

Click here to read about some more patients at the HUD project