DON'T FEEL SHY TO SEEK TREATMENT FOR TB (PAGE 20)

Story: Kwame Asare Boadu

THE Ahafo-Ano North District Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Mrs Elizabeth Adentwi, has advised tuberculosis (TB) patients not to feel shy but to seek early treatment.
She said even though TB was curable, many people died from it every year, and therefore, advised those who contracted the disease to seek treatment, which was free.
Mrs Adentwi stated this when the district directorate of the GHS organised a durbar at Dwaaho to sensitise the people to the causes, prevention and treatment of TB.
She said the disease was very infectious so people, especially children who lived with infected persons, had a great risk of contracting it.
The district director, therefore, advised people with TB to cover their mouths when coughing, and not to spit recklessly.
She indicated that since TB was curable, infected persons should have nothing to fear when they availed themselves of treatment.
Mrs Adentwi disclosed that 40 new cases were recorded in the district in 2007 as compared to 36 the previous year.
She, however, expressed fears that the number could have been more as some people failed to report to the health institutions.
The Queen of Dwaaho, Nana Saamaa II, stated that the traditional authorities would team up with the Unit Committee of the town to visit houses to identify people suspected to have contracted the disease, and advise them to seek medical treatment.