Govt trying to reduce TB death rate to half by 2015: Speakers

CHAPAINAWABGANJ, Aug 9 (BSS): Speakers in an advocacy meeting on Friday said Bangladesh government has been trying to reduce the rate of death in tuberculosis (TB) to half by 2015 through Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) programme.

The meeting on "The Role of Journalists in Increasing Mass Awareness for Making the National Programme for Controlling TB and Tobacco Success" was arranged by the district unit of National Anti Tuberculosis Association of Bangladesh (NATAB) at the conference room of Shishu Shikkha Niketon in the town.

With president of NATAB district unit Monimuddowla Chowdhury in the chair and the meeting was addressed, among others, by junior consultant of TB clinic Dr Asit Sarkar, its medical officer Dr Md Aktar Hossain, president of Zila press club Golam Mostofa Montu, its vice president Zonab Ali and secretary of the district unit of NATAB Iqbal Monowar Khan Channa.

The speakers said TB is no longer a mortal disease if the patient takes a six-month course of treatment properly.

If a patient stops taking drug before completion of the course, he becomes a Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) patient and in that case treatment becomes complicated, very expensive and often impossible, they warned.

They added that there are three types of TB patients which are positive, negative and extra-pulmonary. The positive patients can be identified through cough test and they are serious for themselves as well as others, as they spread germs of TB through sneezing and coughing.

The speakers disclosed, in every year, 100 people become affected with TB and 51 patients die in every one lakh people in the country.

The speakers asked media workers to play vital role in increasing awareness among the people about symptoms of TB, its identification, treatment and maintenance.