Doha March 21 (QNA) - Officials at the National Tuberculosis Control Program discussed Wednesday their future plan in combatting the disease, which include early detection and medical check-ups for all age categories.

Director of the program Abdullatif Al Khal said in a press conference held in celebration of World Tuberculosis day that the national program was one of the most successful worldwide, thanks to solid medical policies and the efforts of the health sector in general. The program provides its services through Hamad Medical Corporations (HMC) Communicable Disease Center (CDC) which uses the most modern devices and equipment, in addition to 65 insulation rooms for patients designed to prevent the spread of the disease. Treatment of TB is offered to patients free of charge in the center.

He noted that Qatar had 601 TB cases last year, 21 of which were of nationals. He also noted that the disease was not an endemic one as the majority of patients carried TB during a visit abroad. He revealed that the center will use a new technique in the future to determine whether the patient was infected inside or outside Qatar. Al Khal said that the condition of patients improve two months after first receiving their medication, but the center continues their treatment for a total six months to guarantee their healing.

In addition to using the latest equipment and medication, the director said that there was a lot of research being conducted in the State of Qatar in cooperation with different health entities that aim to enhance the ability to counter the disease.

He then moved on to discuss the World Tuberculosis Day and said that it marks the anniversary of when Robert Koch the bacillus causing TB in 1882, paving the way for treating the disease. He noted that despite the advances made in treating the disease, it is still one of the top Most Deadly Infectious Diseases worldwide. Last year saw more than 10 million new cases, while 1.7 million died of the disease in 2016.

Al Khal said that world health ministers, who convened in Moscow last November, adopted a plan to increase the rate of combatting the disease, with the aim of lowering the death rate by 90 percent come 2030.

Medical Director of the CDC Dr Muna Al Maslamani said that 2017 saw them screen 11,000 patients referred from HMC facilities, primary care centers, the Medical Commission, private hospitals, and Qatar Red Crescent (QRC). She added that the center carried out 2456 checks for the disease among people who interacted with patients, which helped provide preventative treatment to 527 people of those tested.

As for children who suffered from the disease, she said there were five cases of TB among children but that they were all not in the lungs. She also noted that children cannot infect one another with the disease.

She also said that the center will hold a number of events aiming to raise awareness about the disease, in celebration of World Tuberculosis day. (QNA)