Staff Reporter :Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation causing stiflingly dense habitation are behind the rise of TB patients in two major urban districts of Dhaka and Narayanganj, said Dr Md Quamrul Islam, Director of National TB Control Programme (NTP).Addressing in a press conference on Wednesday at Jatiya Press Club he said that more TB patients are now found in Dhaka and Narayanganj which means spreading of the disease in these two major urban districts of the country. The press conference was organised by NTP under the Directorate General of Health Services and non-governmental development organisation BRAC on the occasion of World TB Day to be observed today.Among others were present at the press conference NTP programme consultant Dr Mojibur Rahman, adviser to NTP Bangladesh on Global Fund and MDR-TB Dr Abdul Hamid Selim, country project director Zahedul Islam, Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services Program – Management Sciences for Health (SIAPS-MSH), Dr Jaynatha Liyanage, medical officer in WHO Bangladesh, and Dr Shayla Islam, programme head, BRAC TB Control Programme. Dr Quazi Al Mamun Siddiqui, senior manager, BRAC TB Control Programme, moderated. The experts informed the conference that the percentage of TB diagnosis in the country is increasing. In 2014, around one lakh (100 thousand) patients were diagnosed with the infection, while in 2015 around two lakh patients were identified with the germs. By June 2016, the government intends to put into place 10 more Genexpert machines for quicker and more effective TB diagnosis.NTP line director further said fight against the infection must be a concerted GO-NGO effort as the government alone cannot fight it out. Currently the NTP, BRAC and other NGOs are working to control the infection.
