In spite of an order by the centre making it mandatory for all private doctors to submit information on TB patients treated by them, of the 22,000 registered practitioners across the state only half have complied.

State health department officials said that the private practitioners do not share the information, as they don’t want to lose out on their earnings. “The government has a programme in place where TB patients are treated free of cost. But, some private practitioners don’t want their patients to learn of this. They treat TB-diagnosed patients till they can afford treatment and when they are unable or have difficulty in shelling out money for the doses, they either stop treatment or refer them to us [government centres],” said a state health department official, on condition of anonymity.