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HAAD enforces new standards
to combat TB

ABU DHABI — The Health Authority — Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has enforced new standards to combat tuberculosis (TB) in the emirate in an effort to ensure that TB patients complete their treatment.

The Directly Observed Treatment (DOT) standard for TB control in the emirate was introduced by HAAD during a training workshop to update health care providers about the advances in diagnosis and
management of TB.

“TB is a challenging public health concern and we are aiming to enhance the reporting and management cases in the emirate. The treatment course for TB is taken for around six months to one year and a lot of patients don’t complete the course of treatment. The new system will enable us to follow up the cases diagnosed with TB and make sure they take their treatment,” said Dr Farida Al Hosani, head of the Communicable Diseases at HAAD.

“The workshop aims to improve the knowledge of the health care professionals regarding case detection, management and follow up of TB patients in order to increase the cure rate and reduce the transmission possibilities of the disease in the community,” she added. According to HAAD statistics, there were 450 cases of pulmonary TB and 175 cases of extrapulmonary TB registered in the emirate last year. — olivia@khaleejtimes.com