LAHORE – Nearly one third of the global population or around two billion people are affected by tuberculosis (TB), Punjab TB Control Programme Manager Dr Darakhshan Badar said on Thursday.
She was addressing a seminar titled, “TB Elimination: Together We Can!” organised in collaboration with the Pakistan Medical Society and the Punjab TB Control Programme at the University of Animal and Veterinary Sciences (UVAS). Badar said that TB was a contagious disease and spread through the air.
If not treated properly, each person with active TB could infect on average 10 to 15 people a year, she said. Badar said that the health department provided absolutely free services to TB patients and people with symptoms as persistent cough, high fever and discharge of blood through mouth should be immediately referred to a qualified physician for proper diagnosis.
The TB Control Programme manager said that people should realise that once a person gets diagnosed with TB, he should start getting treatment immediately, which was available at certain government facilities free of cost. She said all relevant medicines and other facilities were being provided free of cost to any patient. “It is our joint responsibility to ensure a strict compliance with the drug therapy otherwise the patients may develop MDR-TB,” she said.
Badar said that one in every 10 infected people will become sick with active TB in their lifetime. According to an estimate, one person is getting infected by TB every second, with a person dying of the fatal disease every 20 seconds across the world, the TB Control Programme manager said. She said that said an annual health observance has been designed to make people aware of the fact, that TB is a curable and preventable disease.
Pakistan Medical Society Chairman Dr Masood Akhtar Sheikh said that TB is a disease of poverty, affecting mostly young adults in their most productive years. “The vast majority of TB deaths occur in the developing world, with more than half in Asia,” he said. Masood said that TB was also a leading killer in people infected with HIV, as they have weakened immune systems. He said that TB was causing the second highest number of adult deaths in the world, claiming two million lives each year.
Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Dr Zamurd Yasmeen Rana said that efforts were needed to fight TB and all stakeholders, including lady health workers, should be taken onboard. UVAS Vice-Chancellor Dr Nawaz said, “The World Health Organisation (WHO) aims to reach out to patients and has been working with other agencies to achieve the targets set under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)”.
