No fewer than 13,000 cases of Tuberculosis (TB) have been under reported in Nigeria annually due mainly to failure of private healthcare providers to partner with the various state TB and Leprosy Control programmes.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria Tuberculosis (TB) Surveillance Officer, Rivers State Communicable Diseases Cluster, Dr Ayakeme Udom Ekpoudom, who stated this, added that due to poor treatment of TB patients by some private healthcare facilities, the incidence rate of TB in the country has increased.
Ekpoudom made the disclosures during an event organised by the Rivers State Ministry of Health to commemorate the 2018 World TB Day at the Rivers State House of Assembly in Port Harcourt, last Saturday, with the theme: “Wanted: Leaders To End TB in Rivers State”.
The event was preceded by a road walk from St Andrew’s State School, Mile One, Diobu to the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
The WHO officer lamented that a lot of people prefer to go to private health centres, which were even more costly than the government facilities for the treatment of TB, adding that this was one of the reasons why statistics on reported cases of TB were scarcely available.
He complained that the treatment many patients receive from the private healthcare facilities was sub-standard compared to the international best quality treatment given to TB patients at the government-controlled TB centres across the 23 local government areas of the state.
“A lot of people go to the private facilities and are probably treated for TB, and yet as a nation, we don’t have them on our record. We don’t know them, and they are sometimes poorly treated,” he argued.
He appealed to the private medical sector to partner with the state TB and Leprosy Control Programme to ensure that every TB patient in the state receive the same quality care that will ensure free and effective treatment of the patient in line with international best practices.
Ekpoudom stressed that the theme for this year’s event was a clarion call for everyone in position of power to use the instruments of his or her offices to fight TB, and warned that those with TB symptoms such as coughing for two or more weeks, weight lost, breathlessness, fever and restlessness at night to report to any of the TB care centres located at the 23 LGAs of the state instead of spreading the TB disease to the larger population.
He appealed to faith-based organizations to report suspected cases to the state TB programme by calling the phone number 08002255282 for proper diagnosis and treatment.
Also speaking, the State TB Programme Manager, Dr Victor Oris Onyiri identified two types of TB treatment: the simple which treatment lasts for six months and the complicated TB which treatment lasts for 9-12 months.
Onyiri said that both treatments were free of charge, adding that when TB virus is detected early, there was the likelihood of cure.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana & Victory Amirani