Collective efforts need of the hour to combat tuberculosis: seminar

LAHORE : Post Graduate Medical Institute & Ameer Uddin Medical College Principal Prof Dr Al-Fareed Zafar said that children are the future of any nation and strong and healthy children are the basic foundation of the country.

“Tuberculosis is a curable disease however, millions of children around the world die annually due to this disease in which the main reason is the delay in the diagnosis and negligence in treatment. The children living in backward vicinities are an easy target for tuberculosis, for which the government and society must take necessary measures to prevent them from the disease,” he said while addressing a symposium organised by Department of Pediatrics, Lahore General Hospital on TB in children on Saturday.

In the symposium organised under the chairmanship of Prof M Shahid and Prof Faheem Afzal, Principal Gujranwala Medical College Prof Iqbal Hassan, WHO Punjab Representative Dr M Amir Safdar, Additional Director of Punjab TB Control Programme Dr Ghulam Fareed, Prof M Ashraf Sultan, Prof M Asghar Butt, Dr Shafia Habib, Prof Ijaz A Khan from Shafa International Hospital Islamabad, Prof Tipu Sultan, Prof Uzma Kazmi, Prof Sumeera Farman, Dr Altaf Ahmed, Dr Seemi Nizamuddin and Dr Muzammal Azam threw light on various aspects of TB disease in children.

Prof Al-Fareed Zafar said that young children are not responsible and enough wise to take care of themselves, so it is the responsibility of their parents and families to take appropriate care of them and monitor treatment themselves. He said that if the child looks lazy, not interested in playing, eating and drinking and starts losing weight, then the parents should immediately consult a qualified physician without wasting time so that a medical examination can be undertaken and if the child has any problem then do not let the disease get worsen.

Prof, Al Farid Zafar said that a patient suffering from TB needs good food, a clean environment and the health professionals treating such patient must also take precautionary measures to avoid this multiple diseases for which the use of mask is also very important.

Addressing the symposium, medical experts said that TB is a multi factorial disease whose germs can spread in the air by coughing, sneezing and spitting and infect other people. They said that due to the long treatment of tuberculosis, a large number of patients leave the treatment incomplete when the symptoms improve, due to which the disease becomes stronger after a few days, this TB is called drug resistant tuberculosis on which normal medicines do not affect properly. They further said that the treatment of drug resistant TB costs a lot of money and the patient has to go through severe pain as well. They said that there is a dire need to pay attention to the diagnosis and treatment of this disease and create awareness among masses. Similarly if a person has TB and gets this disease, he should take the full course of medicines as directed by his doctor and after the fever subsides, instead of treating himself as healthy, he should undergo a diagnostic test to know the nature and severity of the disease.