Abstract
Background: Health seeking behavior for tuberculosis (TB) among Indian population varies greatly with different indicators like habitation, gender, socioeconomic status, and literacy. Studies reveal that a substantial portion of Indian population seeks medical care at private health facilities, despite TB being a centrally sponsored program. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the health seeking behavior for TB among the slum dwellers in Chhattisgarh, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out using a structured questionnaire to collect information regarding the preference of health facilities and reasons for not approaching government health facility for TB care among 100 households in a slum area in Chhattisgarh. Results: Of the 100 families, 25, 69, 01, and 05% of the families reported to approach private practitioners, government health facilities, traditional practitioners, and adopt self-medication, respectively, for common health problems. Similarly, of 100 families, 44, 54, 01, and 01% families reported to approach private practitioners, government health facilities, traditional practitioners, and adopt self-medication, respectively, for TB care. In addition, several factors were identified for not approaching the government health facilities for TB care. Of 100 households, 13, 01, 20, 19, and 25% households, respectively, reported the following factors “there is long queue in govt. hospital, the Govt. medicines are not of good quality, in Govt. hospital nobody takes care of us, there is no communication facility, my home is far away from Govt. health facility.” In addition, 21% households reported to accept government health facility for TB care. Conclusion: As a centrally sponsored program, TB care in India is free of cost and quality in diagnosis, and treatment is assured. Thus, communities should be mobilized to access TB care at public health facilities to prevent poverty trap, and other problems owing to private sector TB care.
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