BAGUIO CITY – Some five hundred seventy one individuals from the city’s barangays were given treatment by the City Health Services Office (CHSO) for tuberculosis last year.
Dra. Donabel Tubera, CHSO Medical Officer, said their office targeted some 1,048 individuals to have sought consultations for tuberculosis last year but only 571 individuals were able to be accounted for and have proceeded with their prescribed 6-month medication, over 54 percent of the target.
However, she explained the 471 individuals who were supposed to have sought medical consultation with the CHSO might have resorted to seeking diagnosis with their private doctors who are doing private clinics around the city.
“Tubercolosis is curable if the patients religiously take their prescribed medication for the 6-month period. TB can be contracted when a TB-infected person sneezes or coughs out the infected saliva and is absorbed by another person,” Tubera stressed.
The CHSO medical officer added smokers have a greater chance of contracting tuberculosis by as much as 300 percent, thus, the smokers must stop their vice or else their health is compromised.
According to her, the CHSO is awaiting the results of the national prevalence survey conducted by the central office of the health department so that their office could reconcile the data on the number of city residents who are infected with TB.
She underscored the importance of individuals suffering from cough for more than two weeks to immediately seek medical attention from the nearest health facility for proper diagnosis and ascertain if they have tuberculosis.
For a TB patient to be permanently treated from the bacteria, Tubera explained they must complete the 6-month medication regime.
She claimed for the first two weeks of medication, a TB patient could no longer become a potent source of the bacteria but she or he must complete the prescribed medication to ensure that the TB patients will no longer pose a serious threat to the health family members, friends, relatives and the public.
In 2015, she reported that their office had a 61 percent success rate in accounting for the individuals in the city who sought medical consultations for their infection with the said bacteria.
She urged city residents who seem to be suffering from the dreaded bacteria to immediately seek medical attention from the CHSO for early diagnosis before it becomes worst as TB could also lead to the death of a person once it will not be appropriately handled by medical experts.
Tubera revealed the CHSO has available medicines for tuberculosis patients that is why individuals who feel to have been infected with the bacteria should immediately seek the necessary cure from medical officers.
By Dexter A. See