Around 340 new cases of Tuberculosis have been detected amongst those displaced from the war-affected areas. This has become a source of worry for TB control authorities as their centers in Malakand closed down when the military operation began in the area. As a result, treatment of the existing TB patients was stopped and the contagious disease spread rapidly among other IDPs.
While talking to DawnNews, Deputy Manager National TB Control Program Dr Ubaid said besides the normal patients of TB, cases of Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR TB) rose at an alarming rate.
More than 300,000 new cases of TB were detected in 2008 in Pakistan, among which 15,000 were those of MDR-TB.
He asserted that TB is a curable disease and the health department and its subsidiaries are working to eradicate the menace. Among the total cases detected, 944 were those who had already been infected before coming to the camps. An additional number of 340 patients became infected after their arrival at relief camps.
This statistics were revealed at a seminar organized by the NWFP TB Control Program in Peshawar.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ubaid said previous cases of TB have been retrieved and the patients are back on medication, meanwhile new cases that have been diagnosed have also started their treatment.
Apart from pediatric medicines, TB authorities have ensured that anti-TB medicines are also available at all camps, he added.
‘Uninterrupted treatment is the fundamental requirement of successful treatment of TB,’ he said. ‘Any interruption or delay could lead to serious complications.’
More than 23,000 patients have been treated under the NWFP TB control Program this year; however, 17,000 people are still deprived of treatment.
Pakistan ranks eighth among the countries with the highest burden of tuberculosis in the world and is responsible for 5.1 per cent of the total national disease burden.
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