Tuberculosis - Still A Challenge for Health Policy Makers

KARACHI-  There are approximately 121,000 patients who are suffering from tuberculosis, but preferably avoid or delay treatment. Such an act makes their disease more resistant, causing severe harm to their body and infecting other healthy people in their surroundings.

Pakistan Tuberculosis (TB) Control Program has set a target to reduce the number TB patients by 91% by 2020. Thus, the vision to start this Control Program is to spread awareness and decrease the number of people who have TB and haven’t undergone proper treatment yet. Within this period, the number of patients developing cancer through Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis will be minimized by at least 5%.

Abdul Khaliq Domki, Additional Director- TB Control Program, Sindh, addressed a large audience during his speech at TB Awareness Seminar on World TUBERCULOSIS Day, organized by Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS )at Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases. He stated that Tuberculosis is not only a danger for the suffering patient, but also for the entire society. TB is a contagious disease.. It has to be controlled. He shed light on his program’s mission, to get rid of this contagious disease from Pakistan. Strict focus should be laid upon the act of controlling the deaths occurring from this devastating disease.

He mentioned, “Last year, there were 72,000 TB patients who were cured in different hospitals of Sindh.”

The seminar was attended by Pro-Vice Chancellor DUHS, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Masroor, Director Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases, Nisar Ahmed Rao, Deputy Director Dr. Nadeem, Dr. Ismat Ara and other significant presences.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor DUHS, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Masroor said that every year, around 268 new types of cancers emerge, per 100,000 of population while there are 73 types of cancers that have already been discovered. Similarly, there are 341 persistent TB patients rate every year. Despite of the provision of free TB treatment by the Government of Pakistan, people are ignoring this hazardous disease.

Moreover, the theme for this public awareness program on TB Day was to seek leaders for a TB free world. A TB Leader is, every person affected by or active in TB and willing and to speak up and engage to end TB through their work and personal engagement. A TB patient’s treatment can sum up to 6.5 lac to 10 lac Rupees, approximately.

Last year, Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases and its OPDs at different constituent institutions, examine a figure of 114,036 TB patients out of which 41,036 were the cases of new cancers. The Deputy Director Ojha, Dr. Nadeem said that the laboratory of Ojha Institute of Chest diseases is considered as the provincial reference laboratory.

The seminar was initiated with The TUBERCULOSIS Awareness Walk from Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases and ended at the Dow International Medical College. The Pro Vice Chancellor DUHS, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Masroor led the walk, during which the attendees held banners to raise public awareness regarding Tuberculosis.