A Study on Financial Outlay of Tuberculosis Patient’s Registered at District Tuberculosis Centre of District Bareilly

Introduction: Despite being a fully treatable infectious disease,tuberculosis remains among the major causes of death. Earlydiagnosis and antibiotic treatment are essential for stopping thespread of TB. Treatment is now more challenging and expensivedue to the emergence of drug-resistant strains. This studyaims to explore the household out-of-pocket expenses of TBpatients, as well as their socioeconomic status and knowledgeof direct benefit transfer.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 18 monthswas carried out at the District Tuberculosis Centre (DTC) inBareilly, Uttar Pradesh. The study population included patientswith pulmonary TB of all ages who underwent CBNAAT testing.A questionnaire was used to gather data via an interviewschedule from the study participants. Statistical analysis wasdone using SPSS version 25 and Chi-square test was applied.Results: 57.9% of DR and 70.5% of DS TB patients hadout-of-pocket expenses of more than Rs. 5,000, while totalexpenditures of Rs. 500 or less were observed in 7.6 and 6.7%of the DR and DS TB patients, respectively. Our study foundthat most (46.1%) of DR TB patients responded that a cashbenefit was given for their treatment.Conclusion: Out-of-pocket expenditure is a barrier in thesuccessful treatment of patients. The high cost of treatingdrug-resistant tuberculosis can lead to non-adherence andfurther spread of the disease. The awareness about directbenefit transfer is crucial.