ISLAMABAD: The World Tuberculosis (TB) Day will be observed on Friday.

TB is a curable disease and the government is providing free of cost treatment to the patients throughout the country. Pakistan has the fifth highest incidence of TB in the world.

National Tuberculosis Programme Manager Dr Nasir Mehmood told Dawn that every year 10.5 million people were infected with TB all over the world.

“In Pakistan only 0.5 million people are infected with the disease but we are still ranked fifth after India, China, Nigeria and Indonesia. Despite all-out efforts the disease is yet to be eliminated in the country,” he said.

“However, the disease can be reduced by promoting public awareness. The patient as well as people visiting hospitals and other public places should wear masks,” he said.

Dr Mehmood said the treatment of multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB had become a major challenge for the health sector.

“MDR TB is the one which grows when the patient stops taking medicines without completing the course. We register patients and try to ensure that every patient completed their treatment. TB is a stigma in the society so people try to hide the disease and get privately treated. As a result, they miss the course of medicines,” he said.

About the frequent complaints that TB medicines are short in the market, Dr Mehmood said the programme received medicines for 0.5 million patients every year. Those patients who get themselves registered never face any problem in getting the drugs.

“Moreover, once there were 113 companies in the country which used to manufacture the TB medicines but now there are only two firms as the profit margin has decreased. That is why we have declared TB as the orphan drug disease and are trying to get both the companies in the global drug facility from where we get free of cost medicines.”

In reply to a question about people who are possibly infected, he said there was a confusion that as one patient could infect 10 to 15 people, if the possibly infected persons should also be given medicine or not.

“Some health experts feel that medicines should not be given to the possibly affected people because there are more side effects of the drugs compared to its benefits. So we are going to consult on the issue again,” he said.

Media coordinator for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Dr Waseem Khawaja told Dawn that it should be ensured that patients followed the full course of medication for the prescribed period.

“Every person having symptoms of the disease should get themselves tested in a hospital. At Pims on an average we treat over 4,000 patients every year,” he said.

“TB spreads through the air and is contagious. On an average, a TB patient infects 10 to 15 people every year if not treated well. A TB patient stops infecting others two weeks after starting taking the medicines regularly,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2017