By Asma’u Ahmad
Gombe State Ministry of health will evolve a strategy on how to trap pastoralists who move from one place to another to detect those infected with tuberculosis and treat them, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Ishaya Keneedy, said.
He told newsmen in Gombe on Monday that tuberculosis cases had become rampant in spite of efforts to globally fight the scourge.
Dr Ishaya Keneedy
He said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had global programme toward fighting the scourge through free treatment and provision of adequate drugs.
He added that such programmes were being conducted in hospitals, where infected persons receive free treatment and others were offered free test, stressing, however, that the Gombe State Ministry of Health had discovered that tuberculosis was common among the nomadic people who move from one place to another.
“We want to set up a strategy on how to trap nomads as they move, and treat those infected among them,” he said.
According to him, health officials will be asked to pay attention to the type of TB among the pastoralists to know if it is the normal type or different form.
He said similar strategy was adopted among refugees coming into Gombe from Cameroon through Adamawa with the help of professionals from Gombe and Adamawa and success was recorded.
“We want to adopt the same method to curtail the spread of the disease among them,” he added.
The commissioner explained that tuberculosis had been a global problem and all hands must be on deck to fight it.
He called on the public to report any form of cough which exceeds three weeks to the nearest hospital, stressing that “TB is curable and treatment is free.”
