Number of tuberculosis patients in Kuwait drops to 56 cases: MoH
Health panel okays changes to law on social assistance
KUWAIT CITY, March 27, (KUNA): The number of tuberculosis (TB) patients in Kuwait has dropped to around 56 cases, according to the Ministry of Health’s statistics approved by World Health Organizations (WHO) in 2015, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Affairs at the Ministry Dr Majda Al-Qattan said on Monday.
She said in press remarks on the sidelines of the Ministry’s celebration today of the ‘World Tuberculosis Day’ which was observed on March 24 every year, that the rate of tuberculosis in Kuwait ranges from 20 to 22 cases for each 100,000 people.
According to the Ministry’s statistics by the end of 2015, the total number of TB patients reached 724 cases compared to 2014 when it reached 780, she said.
“We Will Not Let Anyone To Suffer From Tuberculosis” is the motto of this year, she added.
Illness
Kuwait, along with Gulf Cooperation Council countries, work under the umbrella of WHO to set a comprehensive strategy to face this illness, as WHO categorizesthe Gulf region including Kuwait as in the “pre-tuberculosis elimination phase”, she affirmed.
WHO has set the year 2020 as the year of tuberculosis elimination in the whole world, while the Gulf region countries have put a comprehensive plan to be revised every three months through periodical meetings with the GCC Health Council to follow up on the latest developments in this respect, she said.
As part of Kuwait’s precautionary measures, domestic workers coming from TBinfected areas to supply a health certificate proving they are TB-free to be followed by further health checks in Kuwait, Al-Qattan said.
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis and generally affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body.
The classic symptoms of active TB are a chronic cough with blood-containing sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss.
Meanwhile, Parliament’s Health Committee, during its last meeting, approved the proposed amendments to Law No. 11/2012 on social assistance, with the aim of reducing the age of individuals who deserve assistance from 55 years to 45 years, reports Al-Anba daily quoting parliamentary sources.
They revealed that the government, at the meeting, expressed its reluctance to approve the proposals because Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is not convinced about this reduction in age, as it will negatively affect the state budget.