The National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) has been offering free treatment to tuberculosis patients but the patients are showing reluctance to come to hospital for receiving treatment.
The information was revealed yesterday during a press conference at the National Press Club auditorium. NTP, Brac and a number of other organisations jointly arranged the conference on occasion of the World Tuberculosis Day 2014.
Speakers told the conference that from 2004 to 2013, more than 1.5 million tuberculosis patients were enrolled in the NTP while nearly 1.4 million people seek treatment for TB every year.
Addressing the conference, NTP Line Director Dr Md Ashek Hossain said they have adequate funding for meeting the cost of treating MDR (Multi-drug resistant) tuberculosis patients but it is the patients who are not showing up.
“What can we do if the patients don’t come to receive treatment? Many tuberculosis patients including MDR haven’t yet enrolled in the NTP. It’s a challenge to bring everyone to hospital so that we can detect and treat them,” he observed.
He also sought help from the media in informing MDR patients of the free treatment. When asked about the total number of deaths of MDR patients, he, however, could not provide any specific statistics straight away.
According to a survey of NTP, the number of MDR patients across the country stands at 4,200 but only 2,761 of them have so far enrolled in the NTP. Last year MDR patient enrolment figure was 682.
Tuberculosis experts told the Dhaka Tribune that MDR tuberculosis is the worst form of the disease and the cost of treatment is more than Tk five lakh.