Fairly large proportion of patients attending for the first time the Chest Clinics in India have had anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy for some time though irregularly. The assessment of the prevalence of Initial Drug Resistance (IDR) among these patients will be of great value in their management and also in formulating general policies of treatment in the Chest Clinics under the National Tuberculosis Control Programme. Material and Methods Chest symptomatics attending for the first time at the five Chest Clinics located in different parts of Madras City, over a period of three months, from 1st March 1982 till the end of May 1982, were investigated, irrespective of whether they had previous chemotherapy or not. A preliminary skiagram of the chest.
