Two percent of TB patients in city defaulters

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, August 21

Two per cent of the tuberculosis patients in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City are found to be defaulters.

“This is very bad sign in controlling TB even in the city areas,” said Dr Babu Ram Gautam, chief at the Public Health Division of the KMC. “The control of TB in city has become more problematic than in the rural areas,” he added.

According to the KMC, there are about 2,000 TB patients and 34 DOTS centres including 14 metropolis centres in the KMC. “Two per cent of the patients do not take full dosage of medicine and discontinue treatment,” said Dr Gautam. “This complication is a result of migration, lack awareness and poverty,” he said.

Migrated workers and low class people discontinue the treatment, as they prefer working for livelihood to visiting the DOTS centres for having doze, said Gautam. “One patient can communicate disease upto 15 people. Sixty per cent of the TB patients are adults”

Cure rate of the TB patients stands at 88 per cent while other statistics are missing due to records unavailable from private clinics and HIV complications. About 6,000 people die of TB every year in the country. However, Nepal is better in DOTS effectiveness among the South-East Asian countries.

“Treatment of TB is possible now at free of cost but the people are still unaware of getting treatment,” said Gautam. “TB bacteria is in a latent condition in about 45 per cent of the total population. It may come into surface anytime when immunity of the people falls down,” he added.

There are some 3,000 DOTS centres in the country and the government has planned to facilitate in all of the health centres and hospitals by 2010. The DOTS method was introduced in four centres in the country in 1995.

This news was published in THE HIMALAYAN TIMES, August 22, 2009.