Abstract: Objective To understand the resources and present work status of sputum checking centers of township hospitals of Gansu, and provide reference for future work.  Methods Basic situation of 535 sputum checking centers of township hospitals in Gansu and their work status from 2005 to 2008 were analyzed.  Results Sixty-six point five percent of these centers still carry out checking work. Only 3.0% has full-time smear staff. From 2005 to 2008, a total of 80899 cases of tuberculosis suspects received smear check, and 4065 cases were found as smear positive. Detection rate of smear positive is 5.0%. There are 254 pieces of false positive and 3017 of false negative slides. The consistency rate of positive Results is significantly lower than national standard. Conclusion s Township sputum checking centers plays a limited role in finding smear positive patients. The experimental condition and biological safety is poor, and work is imbalance between different centers. Therefore, there is a need to implement feasible measures based on local conditions, and integrate the limited resources to improve laboratory conditions and further regulate the work of these centers.

Key words: tuberculosis, pulmonary/diagnosis, sputum/microbiology, pulmonary/prevention and control, Gansu province