4,000 cases of tuberculosis detected in Kaduna yearly

The Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Paul M. Dogo says the state detects about 4,000 cases of tuberculosis yearly.

The commissioner who made the disclosure while addressing newsmen at the Ministry to mark the World Tuberculosis Day, said N20 million had been approved by Governor Nasir El-Rufai for the promotion of tuberculosis programme and that the treatment centers had been expanded to 269 while there were 84 laboratory or diagnostic centers.

Assuring that the state would increase awareness on the fight against the spread of tuberculosis, he said, “The state is currently piloting house to house tuberculosis case finding as health workers move from house to house collecting sample from people coughing and taking them to the hospital for test. Those who are diagnosed to have TB are placed on treatment in the comfort of their homes.”

He said the state piloted an innovation called Fast, “that is, finding TB cases very fast and treating them within 48 hours of diagnosis as against what used to take almost two weeks.”

He said the state also piloted the treatment of drug resistant TB in the community instead of the then usual hospital-based and that both diagnosis and treatment are free of charge.

He therefore called on people coughing to go to the hospital for test and treatment.