Private doctors and public health: The case of leprosy in Bombay, India.

People in India tend to prefer private medical care to the existing government health services. Nevertheless, the large private health care sector has hitherto been virtually alienated from activities of public health importance including priority disease control programmes. This study of 106private general practitioners (GPs), practising in the slums of Bombay, shows a gross lack of knowledge and awareness about leprosy and also about the National Leprosy Control Programme. Active involvementof GPs in the National Programme should facilitate both the integration and better implementation of leprosy control activities. The study also highlights some areas for intervention at both the primary and secondary health care levels and the need for a strategy to train and make private doctors help control diseases which are of major public health concern.