TB cases in Dary very alarming

Daru in Western Province is currently a hotspot for the TB epidemic in Papua New Guinea. Western Province TB Public Health physician Dr. Stenard Hiasihri when speaking at the Special Parliament Committee of Public Sector and Reform Service Delivery hearing this afternoon said that TB being an airborne disease is hard to contain and that primary transmission of TB is high and there are also increased cases of Drug Resistant TB.
He presented statistics that there were 58 cases of drug resistant TB in 2014 and this year 158 cases so far have been seen in the Province. When asked by the Governor of Northern Province Hon. Garry Juffa who is also a member of the committee if there are measures in place to contain the TB patients to control the spread of the disease, Dr Hiasihri responded that there are no set laws to contain the TB patients in an enclosed area and this has contributed to the wide spread of TB in the province.
Hiasihri said finance, human resource and technicalities are setbacks on fully addressing the issue of TB epidemic in the province as he made a call to government to help fund the efforts to tackle this heath issue that is threatening the lives of people in Western Province. PNGFM