The initial step in the diagnosing of PTB is by sputum microscopy and chest radiography under the National Tuberculosis elimination program (NTEP) in patients with presumptive Koch. Examination of the sputum smear is very simple and remains very economical as only minimum training of the technician is needed, and is available in most of the healthcare facilities, free of the coast and is less cumbersome to the patients because of the availability of the results on the very same days. Patients who had less than 1 ml of sputum were defined as having poor sputum- scarce disease. A confirmed case of pulmonary tuberculosis was one in which Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) grew on mycobacterial cultures by solid or liquid culture medium, which was taken as the gold standard. Patients of either gender aged above 12 years of age, that had suspected pulmonary tuberculosis on clinical or radiological grounds, were included in the study. Smear-positive cases, those with disseminated or extrapulmonary tuberculosis patients were excluded from the study. Majority of the study subjects had a cough, 81.3% had expectorations, 82.5% subjects had a loss of appetite, 68.8% had a loss of weight, 36.3% subjects had dyspnea, 18.8% subjects had hemoptysis, 63.8% subjects had evening rise in temp