Specialist: Assist patients

 A SPECIALIST tuberculosis doctor says the Health Department should allocate funding to assist patients complete their medications properly.
Speaking at the TB exposition last weekend in Port Moresby, Dr Joseph Bana-Koiri said emphasis should be placed on the curing stage of the disease.
Bana-Koiri said the number of people suffering TB in PNG remained high because most did not complete the cycle of their medication.
He said treatment partners should be given incentives in the form of a weekly allowance to assist tuberculosis patients complete their medication properly.
Bana-Koiri said the health department had set out a plan in the fight against TB.
But it was placing a big emphasis on diagnosing and treating the disease rather than the last stage of curing.
“If treatment partners were paid allowance of say K100, this would motivate them to assist patients with TB to complete their medications properly and within the set time prescribed by the physician,” Bana-Koiri.
He said if patients completed their doses according to the time prescribed, it would dramatically reduce TB cases.
Bana-Koiri said Port Moresby and Lae had the highest rates of people diagnosed with TB.