STUDY OF THE FEASIBILITY OF INVOLVING MALE STUDENT VOLUNTEERS IN CASEHOLDING IN AN URBAN TUBERCULOSIS PROGRAM

This paper reports the feasibility of involving unpaid National Servic e Scheme (NSS) male student volunteers in a city-based tuberculosis (T B) programme in supplying drugs and retrieving non-compliant TB patien ts. Twenty-five students were selected after assessing their attitude and were trained on TB drug delivery, home visits and motivation of no n-compliant patients. Twenty-three sputum positive patients identified in a medical camp were started on an 8-month short-course chemotherap y regimen. Students supplied the drugs on a weekly basis and defaulter s were visited. The treatment completion rate was 83% and defaulter re trieval was 57%. All patients had sputum smear conversion by 2 months and one relapsed during the 24-month follow-up.