Hospitals give incomplete treatment because they get inconsistent supplies of the drugs. The TB bug is then able to mutate, and it develops a resistant strain. Doctors say they understand they're creating a problem, but they want to treat people as best as possible. Thus, they give people the drugs and hope for the best. Basic conditions in the prisons Underfunded prisons are overcrowded.
Prisoners are also undernourished.
A TB patient is supposed to have a quart of milk a day, but no prison in Russia can afford to give prisoners a quart of milk a day. Thousands of the prisoners are getting out every month and there is no program to monitor them. They may infect friends and relatives. People who emigrate from Russia or visit other countries can bring TB with them. The Itar-Tass news agency reported that two people die of tuberculosis in Moscow every day.