Government is working with the Global Fund to remodel a facility for a modern infectious disease hospital at Nsawam to contain the threat of multi-drug resistant TB and other emerging infectious diseases.
This was made known during the launch of the national commemoration of the World TB Day which took place at Tarkwa in the Western Region.
Tuberculosis continues to be one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Statistics has shown that about 27 Ghanaians die each day from tuberculosis. Ghana recorded about 14,632 new cases of tuberculosis in 2016.
Since 2011, the annual number of reported TB cases has declined gradually from 16,000 to a little above 14,000 presently.
However, the national TB treatment success rate is now 87%.
The Western Region last year recorded a case detection of 19% and 32% for all forms and new smears pulmonary TB cases respectively with a recorded death rate of 6% in 2016 which is higher than the expected.
This year’s World TB Day, which was marked under the theme “Unite to End TB” was aimed at affording stakeholders, the opportunity to find a lasting solution towards W.H.O’s vision of ending tuberculosis by 2030 as well as the stigmatization towards patients.
The W.H.O country representative, Dr. Owen Laws Kaluwa in his remarks called on government and other stakeholders to work closely together to address the scourge of the diseases, ensuring no one is left behind.
He further called for more investments in health care and especially making sure no families are impoverished by the cost of treatment and care of infectious conditions like T.B.
National T.B ambassador Nana Ehunabobirim Prah Agyensim VI spoke against stigmatizing T.B patients and advised the public to seek early treatment while calling for joint efforts towards eradicating T.B.
National T.B control coordinator Dr. Frank Bonsu said the decline in T.B cases in Ghana is not a cause for celebration, adding Ghana is sitting on time bomb since it is confronted with a dilemma of shifting cost of treatment on patients in the face of declining resources.
Director General of Ghana Health Service, Dr. Nsiah Asare disclosed that government is working with the Global Fund to remodel a facility for a modern infectious disease hospital to contain the threat of multi-drug resistant T.B and other emerging infectious diseases.
The project which will be sited at Nsawam is expected to be a state of the art facility which will be completed by the end of next year at a cost of 1 million dollars.
By William Benjamin Peters | 3news.com | Ghana