• Home

TB: Treatment sought for expatriates too

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Director, the Department of Disease Control at MoH, Dr Juma Bilal Fairouz, said that, at present, only the Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms) was providing treatment to expatriate patients while the Ministry of Health (MoH) repatriated such cases.

He also called for implementation of a policy which would require expatriates to provide a proof of being screened for the disease before entering the UAE.

“We require a change in government policy whereby expatriates, alongside UAE nationals, would be provided treatment instead of being sent back to their home countries,” he explained.

Dr Juma, who also heads the National Tuberculosis Programme, said, “We need more awareness on the disease and also require the private medical sector to report cases immediately.”

He stressed that health centres need to provide full treatment to patients. “Half-treated cases are more dangerous to the community, therefore, this issue needs to be addressed,” he added. In his speech during the occasion, which is being held this year under the slogan ‘TB anywhere is TB everywhere’, the Minister of Health, Humaid Al Qutami, highlighted that the MoH has paid great attention to counter tuberculosis by committing to the initiative of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The minister called for adhering to WHO’s strategy and other international initiatives to halt the spread of the TB totally by 2015.

The WHO strategy focuses on achieving high rates during short-term treatment, paying special concern to the challenges posed due to infected cases resisting drugs and boosting partnership among all sectors.

• UAE