On the issue of improving the integration of penitentiary and civil tuberculosis services

The article is devoted to the problem of post-penitentiary maintenance of tuberculosis patients released from prison. It is shown that despite significant progress in the fight against tuberculosis in the penal system, there is a range of unresolved problems, one of which is the lack of continuity in the interaction of civil and penitentiary sectors of anti-tuberculosis service. The number of appealing of tuberculosis patients released from prison for further observation and treatment in specialized medical institutions of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation are given. The ten-year dynamics of appealing is analyzed, which indicates an insufficient proportion of tuberculosis patients who continued active treatment after release from prison. The number of such patients does not exceed 75% and ranges from 50.8% to 73.4%. The authors believe the lack of medical literacy of patients, their belonging to marginal layers of Russian society, as well as the lack of proper control over former prisoners with tuberculosis are reasons for this phenomenon. The negative circumstances noted in the article are powerful factors influencing the spread of tuberculosis in the population as a whole. A brief history of the issue is given, previously made proposals to solve the existing problem are analyzed. The legal assessment of the situation is given. The analysis of ways to solve the problem, which the authors see in the introduction of information technologies, allowing in the future to carry out automated control of tuberculosis patients movement, and to create a single information space common to penitentiary and civil medicine.