Health experts stress serious efforts to eradicate TB  

News Desk

Health experts on Friday stressed the government to make serious efforts to eradicate TB from Pakistan.

They said that TB is a treatable disease and if a person has a cough and fever for more than two weeks, he or she should go to the nearest TB center and get tested.

The experts said that one TB patient can affect 10 to 15 healthy people, so creating TB awareness is a shared national cause of the government agencies as well as all citizens.

They were speaking at a seminar in Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar. The seminar was jointly organized by TB Control Program Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, provincial Health department and other donor agencies to mark World TB Day.

One TB patient can affect 10 to 15 healthy people: Health experts

They were of the view that TB should not be considered as a stigma but it should be treated as a disease, emphasizing that the government and society should pay attention to its treatment and prevention measures.

The speakers said that TB is a contagious disease and it is possible to control but we all have to work together for this common national cause.

Provincial TB Control Program KP Director Dr Mudassir Shehzad said that Pakistan ranks 5th in the world in terms of TB patients.

55,000 people are infected with TB in Pakistan every year while 259 out of 100,000 people get infected with TB

He said that 55,000 people are infected with TB in Pakistan every year while 259 out of 100,000 people get infected with TB.

Dr Shehzad said that the TB control program KP has treated more than 65,000 patients since 2002.  He said that resistance to TB is a great challenge for the whole society while the provincial TB control program has provided free treatment to 2,800 patients since 2012.

The health expert said that there were laboratories for TB diagnosis in the province which would soon be extended to all the districts of the province.