Awareness of Tuberculosis and RNTCP among Interns at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Goa

Abstract

Introduction: India is the highest burdened country with Tuberculosis (TB) bearing over one fourth of the global TB burden. HIV and drug resistance have further complicated the scenario. Thorough knowledge about TB, its diagnosis and treatment as well as about HIV-TB and drug resistance is needed to make RNTCP and TB control a success. Materials & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 90 medical interns who answered a self-administered semi structured questionnaire consisting of 30 questions, answered over 30 minutes, conducted over a 3-month period from July to September 2019. Data was entered in MS Excel and analysed using SPSS 14.0 software. Results were expressed in percentages and proportions. P value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Result: The response rate was 100%. Mean age of interns was 23 to 25 years with 56.6% of them being females. 98.8% of the interns correctly identified the chief symptom of TB. 90% of them knew the role of DOTS centre in TB control. However, the overall knowledge regarding HIV-TB and Drug resistant TB was poor. None of them had received prior RNTCP training. Conclusion: Our study has identified several gaps in the knowledge among medical interns in Goa regarding various aspects of TB diagnosis, RNTCP, HIV-TB and Drug resistant TB. RNTCP training and sensitization must be a mandatory part of the interns training to improve the control of TB in India. How to cite this article:Naik MV, Parrikar AAP, Cacodcar JA. Awareness of Tuberculosis and RNTCP among Interns at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Goa. Epidem Int 2020; 5(3): 1-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2455.7048.202019