The Ministry of Health has a very robust anti-Tuberculosis (TB) programme and will be vigorously pursuing all reports of TB regardless of the source, according to Minister within the Health Ministry Dr. Bheri Ramsaran.
Speaking with the Government Information Agency (GINA) on Saturday, Minister Ramsaran said there are community health workers (CHWs) specially trained to detect and report all suspected cases of TB at the primary healthcare level. He said that the Ministry will examine all concrete cases as some other diseases can mimic TB. Ramsaran’s statement came following a report in Saturday’s edition of Stabroek News about cases of TB in the remote Region One community of Tobago and the squalid conditions under which residents live. The reports were based on a visit by a SN reporter to the area.
GINA also reported that Ramsaran said that some months ago, President Bharrat Jagdeo had instructed him to pay special attention to the community of Tobago, Region One, after it was noticed that the village had experienced some difficulty. Since then, the Minister said that the Health Ministry has sent in teams to investigate the public health status of the community in an effort to address the needs to the community. Residents did not report this to SN and their condition has not improved in recent months.
The Mabaruma Hospital too has been instructed to increase the frequency of their outreaches to the community , the Minister told GINA.
