The World Health Organisation observed 'World Tuberculosis Day 2007' on March 24. WHO's statistics indicate a frightful presence of tuberculosis bacteria among 80 percent of Pakistan's population, with a warning that the moment the immunity of the threatened people had drained, they could catch the illness.
WHO's theme for the day was, "tuberculosis anywhere is tuberculosis everywhere," with a high probability of HIV/AIDS patients catching TB as well. The observance was also intended to highlight the fact that although the deadly disease had long become preventable, it still remains a global emergency since at least three million tuberculosis patients die every year. The message reflected the deplorably insufficient investment in the control, research and tuberculosis and in creating awareness among the people.
Poverty, unhygienic living conditions, adulterated food and contaminated drinking water, according to the WHO, are a few of the principal roots of this ailment. Pakistan is one of those unfortunate countries, which possess all these sources of this lethal disease.
According to the WHO's tally, there are estimated to be 4 million cases of tuberculosis in Pakistan, which actually are only 20 percent of the persons suspected to be carrying the bacteria. That is, the real number of patients could be as high as 20 million. Many among us do not understand that one untreated open case of TB can afflict 10 to 15 healthy persons around in just one year's time. Our people do not habitually get themselves checked, not even occasionally.
Most of us never go to a doctor at all till they grievously fall ill. Many think they are secure till they come to know of their ailment. The ignorance, balefully, persists among the health authorities as well. During British rule, special TB clinics had been established at specific points where occurrence of the disease was detected as being higher than elsewhere. Some of them are still functioning.
Sixty years after the creation of Pakistan, however, we can not boast of adding one single TB clinic to that list. Instead, there have been instances of encroachment and grabbing and quite a few of the old ones have disappeared by now, only to be replaced by plazas and markets.
Even our very small health budget is not utilised in an efficient way. The expenditure over creating genuine medication facilities is much less than the spending on health publicity campaigns. Doctors are scarce in villages and towns but no good endeavour is made to augment their accessibility. Corrupt officials steal almost all the budget allocated to the purchase of medicines.
Cleaning, washing and disinfecting of the government-controlled hospitals is the lowest priority. We, as a whole, do not really take our health as seriously as we should. All this needs another report from the WHO, which could analyse as to how we should cure this other tuberculosis within our social and psychological structure.