Hai Duong strives to end tuberculosis

Multiple solutions

Tuberculosis is a dangerous infectious disease with a high risk of death, but it can be cured if prevention and treatment are done well. Therefore, in recent years, the Provincial Steering Committee for Tuberculosis Prevention has always been determined in the fight against tuberculosis with practical and timely activities.

Identifying the construction of a synchronous and systematic medical network as a "steel shield" in tuberculosis prevention, the province is interested in perfecting organizations and facilities, ensuring the ability to respond to treatment and prevention. At the provincial level, the Lung Hospital is the focal unit with a scale of 355 beds. The hospital has a command room responsible for implementing tuberculosis prevention activities in the province.

At the district level, there are 16 TB prevention teams, each team has 3-5 members. Of these, there are 12 teams at 12 district health centers and 4 teams at the Tropical Diseases Hospital, the Mental Health Care Center, the Meritorious People Center, Hoang Tien Prison, and the Provincial Drug Rehabilitation Center. At the grassroots level, each health station has a specialist in TB prevention. In addition to the public system, the province also has 12 private clinics and hospitals participating in the prevention of this disease.

Along with strengthening the health system, facilities have stepped up screening, diagnosis and treatment of latent tuberculosis. In particular, testing cases will continue to be expanded, including all patients coming to TB prevention units for examination; 100% of patients in prisons and detention camps; medical staff working in TB prevention units or in facilities where people with TB come for examination and treatment; high-risk populations such as people with HIV, diabetes, kidney failure, etc. Widespread testing will detect TB cases for timely management and treatment. In 2024, medical facilities tested more than 15,000 people, thereby detecting more than 1,100 people infected with TB. The rate of detecting TB of all types is 52.3/10,000 people. The rate of successful treatment is 89%. 5.7% of people with TB dropped out of follow-up and treatment.

In addition to implementing preventive medicine and treatment well, to improve the effectiveness of tuberculosis prevention, units actively deploy monitoring activities, apply information technology in management, strengthen training activities, coordinate public-private health systems, etc. The synchronous implementation of solutions with the key step being early detection of tuberculosis patients in the community will be a condition for the province to push back and eventually eliminate tuberculosis.

Still difficult

Despite active efforts to implement measures to manage and control TB, TB prevention and control still faces many difficulties with a relatively severe epidemic situation. Latent TB remains a barrier and a danger that makes the goal of eliminating TB difficult.

Recently, Hai Duong Lung Hospital received a case of tuberculosis without any signs or symptoms of the disease. The patient is Mr. LVS (57 years old) in Van Duc ward (Chi Linh) who only discovered he had tuberculosis when he had an appendectomy. Mr. S. is still healthy, with no signs of prolonged cough, weight loss, or fatigue. When he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, Mr. S. was very surprised. After being treated for appendicitis, Mr. S. continued to be hospitalized for tuberculosis treatment. Mr. S said: “When the doctor informed me that I had tuberculosis, I was a bit worried because I knew how dangerous this disease is. Besides, I also did not know the source of the infection because no one in my family had the disease. However, with the encouragement of the doctors and nurses, I did not panic but followed the treatment regimen correctly. Thanks to that, my condition has progressed well.”

In fact, there are still many TB patients in the community who have not been detected, especially those who have no symptoms of the disease. This is a dangerous source of infection that is difficult to control. Therefore, if testing and screening are not proactive, the risk of the disease spreading and becoming complicated will increase.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis is a major pressure in the current tuberculosis prevention work. Drug-resistant tuberculosis increases the danger, the disease progresses complicatedly, seriously harms the patient's health, and takes a long time to treat. Drug-resistant tuberculosis is often caused by the patient's subjectivity, not following the doctor's instructions properly. This case often happens to people who are subjective, busy with work and neglect treatment.

According to specialist doctor I Vu Van Son, Head of Internal Medicine Department 3 (Hai Duong Lung Hospital), to achieve the goal of ending tuberculosis, it is not only based on the efforts of the medical team but also each person needs to raise awareness, put aside fear to face this disease.

People need to be aware of the dangers of tuberculosis in order to take appropriate measures to protect their health. People with tuberculosis should not be too worried or feel guilty, but should follow the doctor's instructions to cure the disease. Only then will tuberculosis no longer be a concern.