A day in the life of a TB officer at the Nav Jivan Mission Hospital

Amit Minz has to get up at 5am to reach the clinic which is 40km away from his home.  After morning prayers, he leaves for the first village by motorcycle (except on Fridays and Saturdays when he conducts a TB clinic).

On reaching the village, he visits each DOTS provider (the DOTS provider is someone, often a volunteer, who observes the patient taking their drugs to ensure that they complete their treatment and do not put themselves at risk of the disease coming back in a drug-resistant form) and examines the patient’s TB card. He discusses the compliance and general condition of the patient with the DOTS provider, checks the medicines remaining and reminds him of the date of the next hospital visit.

Then both Amit and the DOTS provider go to meet the patient to check their health and general progress. He also asks other members of the family if any of them (or other people they know in the village) show any symptoms of TB like a persistent cough (more than three weeks), coughing up blood, night sweats or loss of weight. If there are any, he gives the person a container, and asks them to bring an early morning sample of sputum (phlegm) to the hospital on the next clinic day. He continues around the village to meet all his patients and DOTS providers. The next event is a health education meeting with the public, who are rounded up by the DOTS providers. Amit talks about prevention, and the symptoms of TB and what to look out for as well as other important health matters. 

Finally, Amit prays and proceeds to the next village (he tries to visit two or three villages a day). He then returns to the hospital and files all the entries for the day, leaving for home by about 5 pm.