Sixty health workers in the Nkoranza South Municipality on Wednesday attended a day’s workshop on the “signs and symptoms of Tuberculosis (TB) and its curable measures” at Nkoranza in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
The workshop, organised by the Nkoranza South Municipal Health Directorate was attended by chemical sellers in the Municipality.
Madam Winifred Tienaah, the Nkoranza Municipal Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in an address said, TB is a curable disease and therefore urged health workers to educate people suspected to have been infected with it to report to health facilities in their communities for immediate attention and treatment.
Madam Tienaah said “for every population of 100,000 people, it is suspected that about 86 cases of the disease could be detected from them”.
She stressed “all people are vulnerable to contracting TB”, explaining that, “the disease was airborne and could easily be contracted from our environment, including the streets, market places, in vehicles and in our rooms.”
Mr. Augustine Frimpong, the Nkoranza Municipal Disease Control Officer advised chemical sellers to probe further, anytime a client reported to their stores with suspected TB case and counsel such people to seek proper medical attention without delay.
Mr. Frimpong said the days when suspected TB patients were regarded as “outcast” in the communities were gone because “the disease is now not only curable but the cure is free”.
He urged participants to encourage suspected patients to seek expert advice about their cases by way of screening their sputum at the laboratories to prove their status on the disease.
Mr. Frimpong mentioned persistent coughing for more than two weeks, coughing up blood, drenching night sweats with loss of weight as some of the signs and symptoms of TB and advised the general public to aware of that.
Mr Richard Awuah, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Disease Control Officer stressed the need for frequent screening of TB patients and consistent taking of medication for their complete treatment.
Source: GhanaWeb
