ILOILO CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) has identified strategies to identify some 28, 948 “missing” or unreported cases of tuberculosis (TB) in Western Visayas, an official said on Monday.
Citing the result of the 2016 National Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey, Dr. Edith Gimotea, National TB program coordinator in Western Visayas, said “there’s a lot of cases that were not identified yet by health workers”.
“Our health workers are complacent because we have been saying that we are able to reduce now our TB cases,” she said, adding that barangay health workers are “underutilized”.
Of the 43,149 TB cases that were “missing” in the region this year, around 14,201 have been identified.
To trace those “missing” cases, Gimotea said they will be engaging civil society organizations, private practitioners and private hospitals.
She said some “private physicians are not reporting their cases to the databank” although they are managing TB cases.
“We ask the help of our barangay health workers to look for these cases, identify these cases and report these cases to the nearest TB-DOTS facilities. Also, we gave target to hospitals; they need to report their cases also,” she said.
She added that they also have to reach out to those living in geographically-isolated areas (GIDAs) by deploying nurses while barangay health workers (BHWs) will be utilized to trace those living in slum areas.
Starting this month, BHWs will also be visiting elderly to collect specimen to be tested using the GeneXpert, the latest tool in diagnosing TB.
Gimotea revealed that the DOH regional office has allotted PHP4 million for the X-ray of presumptive TB cases while their central office has downloaded PHP5 million for the X-ray of indigenous peoples (IPs)
Those found to have a presumptive TB case will be given a referral slip for them to avail of X-ray at the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao district. Next month, the DOH mobile X-ray will also be going around to conduct tests.
The national prevalence survey identified those prone to the infection as those who are in the productive age group, smokers due to weakened immune system because of smoking and those who are exposed to cases in their workplace or even their homes.
“TB is an airborne infection. That’s why every time we cough, let us make it habit to cover our mouth to minimize the infection or spread of bacilli,” she said.
Also considered as vulnerable groups are the elderly who already have weak resistance, public utility drivers and IPs. (Perla Lena/PNA)
