BY: JENNIFER C. TILOS
DUMAGUETE CITY, Sept. 1 (PIA) -- Negros Oriental Provincial Health Office (PHO) and the 16 hospitals in the province signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) recently to intensify its implementation of Tuberculosis Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (TB-DOTS) by increasing this year’s 1,492 TB case detection.
With this, the hospitals will be involved in the TB DOTS implementation to prevent and control the increasing TB cases especially to identified 12 local government units which have low TB detection rate.
According to assistant provincial health officer Dr. Edgardo Barredo TB is the sixth leading cause of death in the country, thus, he appealed to the 43 percent TB patients and suspects to seek consultation in the hospitals.
The TB patients will be provided free TB medicines to increase treatment compliance, said Dr. Barredo.
Thru hospital involvement now in TB-DOTS, TB patients are provided with quality services and properly referred to DOTS facilities.
Barredo said to prevent further development of multiple drug resistant TB cases, the patients should complete their medicines or continuous treatment and the public should be aware of the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.
The program is in line with the global plan and the goal of the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) of sustainably reducing the TB prevalence and death rates by 50 percent in 2015 and hopefully eliminating it by 2050.
Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo called on health practitioners and institutions to work together in eradicating this killer disease.
The governor is pleased to note the involvement of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital along with Inapoy Community Primary Hospital and Mabinay Rural Health Unit as partners of Department of Health’s TB-DOTS to control TB cases in the province.
He emphasized that health is one of his administration’s priority concerns under its flagship program HELP – Health, Education, and Livelihood Programs and projects for peace and development.
In support of the TB control program, provincial board member Dr. Liland Estacion said the province has allocated P600,000 for this year aside from the free x-ray using the mobile X-ray van.
Dr. Estacion said the challenge now is the emergence of multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which is difficult and expensive to treat as the bacteria has developed resistance to first-line drugs.
The TB strain results from patients not adhering to their drug regimen, meaning they do not take their medicines religiously for six months.
TB is a curable disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis that affects the lungs, and is transmitted through airborne or person-to-person spread of droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the respiratory disease.
TB prevalence is high among high-risk groups such as the elderly, the urban poor, smokers, and those with weak immune systems. (mbcn/JCT/PIA7-Negros Oriental)