By Kemo Cham
Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Sanitation last week had a firsthand experience of the look and operations of the Lakka Government Hospital.
The Lakka Hospital, located at Goderich in the west end of Freetown, is host to Sierra Leone’s main treatment center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy.
The Committee, headed by Hon. Moses Jorkie, was treated to a power point presentation by Dr. Lynda Foray, Manager of the National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Control Programme of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation who spoke about the prevalence of the diseases, efforts being made to tackle them and what’s needed going forward.
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by bacteria which usually attack the lungs, and sometimes other parts of the body. TB spreads through the air when a person with TB of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes, or talks.
With 3000 people dying of TB annually in Sierra Leone, out of 23, 000 cases, Sierra Leone is ranked among the top 10 countries with the highest burden of the disease in the world, according to the World Health organization.
Leprosy, also caused by bacterial, is a chronic infectious disease that mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes. Leprosy is known to occur at all ages ranging from early infancy to very old age.
The prevalence of Leprosy is far less, compared to TB in the country.
Despite capacity limitations, the Health Ministry says a lot of progress has been made in tackling the two diseases. But in the case of TB it is still a major public health concern, especially in light of growing cases of multidrug resistance.
Both diseases are curable and early treatment is crucial for success. And in Sierra Leone, treatment for both diseases is free. But officials say lack of awareness is holding back progress, despite improvement in diagnostic capacity.
The Lakka hospital has been at the center of Sierra Leone’s fight against the diseases and it has recently been boosted with a state-of-the-art TB laboratory built with donor funds at the tune of US$2.5million.
As part of the upgrade, diagnostics tools including GeneXperts for molecular testing for MDR-TB were installed in the facility. The GeneXpert shortens the time it takes - approximately two hours - to confirm a TB test result. Previously, with the ordinary microscopy, it took approximately 1-2 days to come up with a result.
The visit of the MPs, according to a news dispatch from Parliament, was part of efforts to mobilise the lawmakers to help in mass sensitisation on the need for the citizenry to seek timely testing and treatment.
"TB kills faster than HIV/AIDS," Dr Foray was quoted telling the MPs, who were formally inducted as Champions of TB. She lamented the trend of TB patients abandoning their treatments halfway.
Everyone is prone to contracting TB, she added, stressing on prevention and prompt treatment.
According to the Program, the Western Area Urban (Freetown and its environs), Western Area Rural and Kambia are the three districts doing well in terms of case notification, while Bonthe, Kono, Kailahun and Moyamba districts are lagging far behind.
Dr. Foray said cases of abandonment of treatment halfway are prevalent in in the Western Area Urban, Bombali and Bonthe districts. These are the districts the mass sensitisation is planned to focus on.
© 2019 Politico Online
