With a view to provide complete medical treatment to the TB patients at their doorsteps, the Punjab government has established a network of Basic Management Units (BMUs) across the province. As per data, total TB cases incidence rate per year is 525,000 in Pakistan while the figure of TB cases under treatment is 368,589. Up to 160,000 TB patients are missed from treatment while estimated 56,000 deaths are occurred due to TB in Pakistan every year.
Dr Aamir Nazir, Program Director TB Control Program Punjab told Business Recorder that the Punjab government has paid special attention to tackle the TB burden and strengthened the programme for providing a free treatment to TB patients. More than 35 hospitals have been upgraded to take care of multi-drug resistant TB cases and dozens of laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to achieve the target of eliminating the disease from the country.
Talking about the Provincial Tuberculosis Control Program (PTCP), he said the aim of the programme is to detect, treat and cure infectious TB cases for sound public reasons; care of TB patient is integrated within primary health care services and extending diagnostic and treatment facilities free of cost.
He said that in 644 BMUs all over Punjab, labs have been upgraded for microscopy including LED/FM Microscopy. Microscopes and reagents are provided to these labs. About 160 Gene Xpert Machines have been installed at tertiary care, district head quarter, tehsil head quarter hospitals and rural health centers where the test is provided free of cost. About 36 Intermediate Labs have been established, one in each district. Four Culture Labs have also been established: one each in Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Bahawalpur. These labs perform TB culture for better diagnosis of TB and management of DR-TB patients.
Dr Aamir Nazir said, unfortunately many patients do not persist with their treatment. They stop treatment because they are feeling better. They fail to come back for their drugs or they disappear to another part of province. To overcome this, PTCP has started TB-MIS registration and follow-up system.
He said that surveillance is an integral part of tuberculosis control programme. It helps health managers in evaluating, planning and budgeting. Tuberculosis (TB) is an airbone bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB can be acquired by breathing contaminated air droplets coughed or sneezed by a person nearby who has active tuberculosis. Persons with active TB have symptoms which include excessive coughing (sometimes with blood), chest pain, general weakness, lack of appetite, weight loss, swollen lymph glands, fever, chills, and night sweats. It can be misdiagnosed for bronchitis or pneumonia. If untreated, active TB can fatal, he added.
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