TB in the times of Covid-19

With around 9,000 persons diagnosed with TB in Balochistan

The Balochistan government, with the assistance of international and national health organisations, is making all efforts to eradicate tuberculosis from the province. It is providing diagnosis and treatment facilities to patients for free, and is also paying transport fares to patients and their attendants travelling to hospitals from different parts of the province. During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, around 9,000 persons have been diagnosed with TB in the province and the government is efficiently taking care of them. This prevalence of the disease during the pandemic might be linked to prolonged lockdowns in cities and towns making it difficult to access food and other necessities. TB is fully curable, and early detection leads to fast recovery. If proper attention is not paid to this aspect, it takes long to restore the health of patients. Late detection makes treatment of the ailment difficult, and in some cases the disease becomes drug-resistant.

TB is also known as the disease of kings because the patients have to take expensive medicines and nutritious food. The prevalence of TB in developing countries is largely attributed to poverty, lack of hygiene, illiteracy, ignorance, polluted environment, drug addiction and superstition. Low literacy is one of the causes for the lack of a proper awareness of hygiene and other health-related issues. These factors delay early detection and treatment of diseases. In developing countries, like Bangladesh, increasing literacy has markedly brought down the incidence of illnesses and also the birth and death rates. Experience shows that in matters of health, increased life expectancy and adoption of proper hygiene practices, expansion of female literacy plays a crucial role.

Some young persons have a snobbish notion of diseases like TB. They like to fade away in the prime of life like the poet Keats and the Bronte sisters. “Here lies the one whose name was writ (written) on water” is inscribed on Keats’s gravestone. Anne Bronte wrote the sentence: “There is perfect love in Heaven.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2021.

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