Cost of Illness (Out of Pocket Costs Paid By Patient) for T.B in Quetta City, Pakistan

Abstract

The objective of study is to measure the cost of illness (out of pocket costs paid by patients) for T.B in Quetta city, Pakistan. Cross sectional study was performed on TB patient in Fatima Jinnah chest hospital Quetta. The TB patients who were registered in hospital were interviewed to determine the out of pocket cost paid by TB patients by using standardized data collection tool. The descriptive statistics was used to present the data. All analyses were performed using SPSS 20.0. The total of 70 TB patients were agree to participate in the study. Majority (62%, n=44) were females with rural residency 51.4%, n=36). Majority of patients had monthly income were 8000-15000. The total average out of pocket cost was Pk. Rs. 11,685 per month for an individual patient. In addition, it was calculated that a patient spend Pk. Rs. 292 for diagnostic tests including chest x-ray, additional medicine purchased were of Pk. Rs. 1465, travel cost were Pk. Rs. 3,485 , special food cost were Pk. Rs. 2,128 rupees accommodation cost were Pk. Rs. 3,825 rupees, & the other cost were Pk. Rs. 490. It is worth mentioning here that all the medication and other treatment cost is paid by the government. The study concluded that although government paid all the medication and other treatment cost for TB patients, yet patient had to bear a high amount of money from his pocket which put additional burden to the poor patient suffering with a disease like TB.