Summary Responsibility for Successful Treatment The overall goals for treatment of tuberculosis are 1) to cure the individual patient, and 2) to minimize the transmission ofMycobacterium tuberculosis to other persons. Thus, successfultreatment of tuberculosis has benefits both for the individualpatient and the community in which the patient resides. Forthis reason the prescribing physician, be he/she in the publicor private sector, is carrying out a public health function withresponsibility not only for prescribing an appropriate regimenbut also for successful completion of therapy. Prescribing phy-sician responsibility for treatment completion is a fundamen-tal principle in tuberculosis control. However, given a clearunderstanding of roles and responsibilities, oversight of treat-ment may be shared between a public health program and aprivate physician.