Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday said Tuberculosis (TB) patients are recovering fully as the government has expanded treatment facilities across the country.
“Every year, nearly three lakh people are being infected by TB (Tuberculosis)…. we are continuing treatment facilities to cure TB patients alongside COVID-19 pandemic,” he told the inaugural function of one stop TB service centre and regional TB reference programme at 250-bed TB Hospital at Shaymoli in the city.
Secretary of Health Service Division Lokman Hosen Mian and the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller, Deputy Director of the 250-bed TB Hospital Dr Md Abu Rayhan and representatives of different local and International organizations, among others, addressed the function with Director General of Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam in the chair, an official release said.
The health minister said Bangladesh is committed to providing TB diagnosis and treatment service completely free of cost to all citizens of the country. “It strives to make services equally available to all people of Bangladesh,” he added.
Prof Alam said among the communicable disease, Tuberculosis (TB) is the commonest cause of morbidity and mortality, and continues to be a major public health threat in Bangladesh.
Other speakers said short course (DOTS) strategy was launched in 1993, and the stop TB strategy that underpinned the global Plan to stop TB 2006-2015.Since the introduction of DOTS, remarkable progress in TB control has been made in the country, they added.
