Cases of tuberculosis (TB) in the prisons have been cut by half since the implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment Short programme (DOTS), according to Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud.
Persaud, who testified before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Camp Street prison unrest yesterday, said that based on the 2014 report, of the 412 prisoners who were screened for TB across the prisons, 14 were diagnosed with the disease, with most cases being non-infectious. Additionally, of the 687 prisoners who were tested for HIV, 17 were found to be positive.
According to the practitioner, the medical officers are very stringent when comes to following up inmates who are diagnosed with TB and HIV after their release from prison. The clinics, he said, transfer the information of
