Patient's site of first access to health system influences length of delay for tuberculosis treatment in Tajikistan

Table 1 Characteristics of facilities in the Tajik health system§

Facility type	Specialisation of health worker†	Hospital beds	Description
Medical House	Nurse	No	Facility serving villages without a Rural Health Centre. Together with the latter forms the peripheral primary care. Basic services from a nurse or a trained health worker.
Rural Health Centre	Generalist/family doctor	No°	Facility serving mid-sized and larger villages. Stands at the centre of Family Medicine and thus primary care. One or more family doctors and a number of nurses.
Polyclinic	Specialist doctor	No	Facility found in district centres and larger towns. Specialist doctors provide ambulatory services.
Central District Hospital	Specialist doctor	Yes	Found in district centres. Specialist doctors provide in- and out-patient services. Usually contains an ambulatory functioning like a Rural Health Centre.
District TB facility (including TB hospitals)	TB specialist	Partially	Usually in the district centre. Often more than one in large districts. Part of the historical vertical structure providing care for TB exclusively.
Republican Hospital	Specialist doctor	Yes	Tertiary referral centres providing the most specialised services available.
Private clinic	Varying	Varying	Exist only in large towns, mainly in the capital.

§This list is by no means complete, but contains the facilities of relevance to this study.
†This column shows the highest professional specialisation that is usually found at facilities of the respective type.
°Some Rural Health Centres are historically derived from rural hospitals with beds and in a transitional period may have hospital beds.

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