Experts at a discussion yesterday stressed the need for participation of private practitioners to control tuberculosis (TB) in the country.
They laid emphasis on combating TB immediately, as over 3 lakh people are affected with the disease while it claims around 72,000 every year.
They said the World Health Organisation ranked Bangladesh 6th among the world’s 22 high-burden TB counties. Among every 1 lakh people, 223 people are affected with TB and it claims 45 people every year in the country.
The discussion titled “Participation of Private Practitioners in Tuberculosis Control” was organised jointly by The Independent, an English daily and Brac at the daily’s conference room in the city.
Addressing the discussion, National Professor Dr Nurul Islam underscored the need for mutual understanding between public and private medical sector to fight against the infectious disease.
He opined for enacting a law incorporating a provision that 10 percent of the medicine of the government would be preserved for TB-affected patients.
Presiding over the meeting, The Independent Editor Mahbubul Alam urged the government and private organisations to extend TB treatment at grass-root level and emphasised inclusion of private practitioners to the tuberculosis control programme.
Presenting the keynote paper, Dr Shaila Islam, senior medical officer of Brac, informed that around 84 percent of TB patients primarily go to the private practitioners. Of them, 17 percent go to the graduate private practitioners while 44 percent to quacks and 23 percent to others.
She recommended enlisting private practitioners to involve them in the NTP and arrangement of more training programmes for TB service providers in different non-government hospitals and clinics.
Dr Badiuzzaman Bhuiyan, Awami League Health and Population Affairs Secretary, emphasised designing a plan for involving the private parishioners in the programme to combat TB effectively.
Dr Ashek Hossain, programme manager of NTP, featured different measures taken by the government to prevent TB and hoped that the disease will be controlled immediately.
Dr Maswoodur Rahman Prince, editor of Stethoscope, a health supplement of The Independent, moderated the programme. Bangladesh Private Medical Practitioners’ Association (BPMPA) President Dr Moniruzzaman and Brac Health Programme Assistant Director Jalaluddin Ahmed, among others, spoke at the function.
