Ahmad et al. BMC Public Health 2012, 12:132 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/132 exists to offer a diversified national TB algorithm taking into account different levels of care. The high rate of patient loss in health centres needs to be addressed by improving the quality of service and implementing patient tracing and better programme supervision. Acknowledgements The study received financial support from the Belgian government FWO (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen) and the Indonesia Directorate General for Higher Education, Ministry of Education Scholarship. We wish to acknowledge the support provided by the staffs of the participating health facilities. It is with deep regret that the authors note the untimely passing of our dear friend Francine Matthys, who died on September 25, 2011. Author details 1Centre for Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University, Jogjakarta, Indonesia. 2Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 3Unit of Epidemiology & Disease Control, Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. 4Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University, Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Authors’ contributions Conception and design of the study: RAA, FM, BD, NR, YM, PVdS. Acquisition of data: RAA, FM, BD, NR, YM. Analysis and interpretation of data: RAA, FM, BD, SJdV, PVdS. Drafting the paper: RAA, FM, SJdV. Substantially revising the paper: RAA, FM, BD, NR, SJdV, YM, PVdS. All authors read and approved the final manuscript Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Received: 29 August 2011 Accepted: 15 February 2012 Published: 15 February 2012 References 1. 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WHO: Automated real-time nucleic acid amplification technology for rapid and simultaneous detection of tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance: Xpert MTB/RIF SYSTEM Policy statement Geneva: WHO; 2011, (WHO/HTM/TB/ 2011.4). Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/132/prepub doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-132 Cite this article as: Ahmad et al.: Diagnostic work-up and loss of tuberculosis suspects in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. BMC Public Health 2012 12:132.