Noncompliance to Directly Observed Treatment Short course in Mulshi Block, Pune District

CONTEXT: Directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) was adopted as the strategy for the provision of treatment to increase treatment completion. Poor adherence to medication has been noted and poses a big challenge even after achieving 70% case detection and 85% cure rate. The focus remains on dealing with important reasons of default and timely retrieval of patients who interrupt the treatment. AIMS: The aim of the study was to measure the noncompliance of DOTS and to determine the reason for the same among patients in rural area of Pune. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted with a study population comprising the patients who were getting treatment in November 2016 and must have completed at least 1 month of treatment in Mulshi block. The study period was from November 2016 to January 2017. All the patients were interviewed using a pretested questionnaire for their compliance. RESULTS: The total number of patients included in the study was 88. The age was 18–70 years in which 77.3% were male and 22.7% were female. We found 71.6% new cases, and 27.3% were the previously treated patients, whereas 1.1% were multidrug-resistant patients. Among these patients, 25% were tobacco chewers and 31.8% were smokers. We found that 61.4% were compliance patients and 38.6% were noncompliance patients. Reasons given by the patients were side effects, stigma of the society, migration from one place to another, and felt better from symptoms after taking medication. CONCLUSION: Noncompliance in our study is high. We should take steps regarding this so that people adhere to the medication.