TB SCREENING. A senior citizen undergoes free tuberculosis screening inside a RadTech van, as part of the anti-TB health services offered by Batangas City Health Office for senior citizens.(Photo courtesy of Batangas City PIO)
BATANGAS CITY- The City Health Office (CHO) here has intensified its health services in pursuit of the Department of Health's (DOH) target to broaden the anti-tuberculosis (TB) program for the corresponding treatment and avert the spread of the disease.
City Health Officer Dr. Rosanna Barrion said the health office is targeting the senior citizens and diabetic patients who are vulnerable or could easily contract the TB disease.
CHO prioritized some 200 senior citizens, who are afflicted with diabetes mellitus, in its free anti-TB mass screening launched Wednesday.
Barrion said that the CHO’s TB mass screening was in partnership with the Batangas Provincial Health Office and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), which operates its mobile RAD Tech Van where the patients undergo the X-ray process starting June 13.
The CHO, she said, has recorded some 900 TB cases last year prompting them to sustain the program this year.
She appealed to patients to disclose their TB illness as early as possible because the TB disease is deadly and contagious, but this could be treated by availing themselves of the CHO services.
She said that there were patients who complained of recurring back pains, cough and headache but they simply ignore these signs until these progressed to recurring hard cough, develop fever and body weakness until they consulted the CHO and were diagnosed to have TB
“Ang CHO personnel ay tutok ang gamutan sa mga identified cases at tinutulungan ng Department of Health (DOH) na nagbibigay ng gamot sa mga local government units (the CHO personnel are focused on the treatment for the identified cases through the support of the DOH that provides free medicines to the local government units),” she said.
Barrion advised individuals to eat healthy foods, do exercise, observe good sleeping habit and discipline, avoid vices and develop a healthy lifestyle in order to prevent being contracted with TB. (Maroe T. Genosa/PNA)
