TB still a major health issue in Sabah, says minister

KOTA KINABALU: Tuberculosis (TB) is still a major health problem in Sabah with more than 5,000 cases reported last year, state Health and People’s Well-being Minister Stephen Wong said today.

Wong said 5,106 cases were detected statewide in 2017, with another 3,993 cases reported as of October this year.

“Of the TB cases recorded by the state health department from 2013 to 2016, about 25% to 30% involved foreigners.

“There was an increase of 28.7% in 2017 involving foreign workers compared to figures for the previous year,” he said to Umno’s Lumadan rep Matbali Musah during question time at the state assembly sitting.

He said the district of Kinabatangan had recorded the most instances of TB among foreigners in 2017, accounting for 68% of last year’s cases. This was followed by the east coast districts of Kunak, Lahad Datu and Semporna.

“Although statistics show that a majority of the TB cases involved our nationals, the state health department views the TB cases among foreigners seriously as this can jeopardise the local communities’ health,” Wong said.

He said the government would continue with various efforts and programmes to curb the spread of the disease, including conducting checks on foreign workers by panel doctors from Growarisan, a medical screening agency appointed by the government.

According to Growarisan’s report this year, he said, 107,584 foreign workers who entered the state had gone for medical screening including for TB through chest X-rays.

He said foreign workers with health problems must be sent back home, adding that those with abnormal X-ray results would be referred to the nearest health facility for further checks.

“However, the sending back of unhealthy workers was not properly implemented and could have resulted in these workers staying back and contributing to the spread of the disease in the community.”

To Karanaan assemblyman Masidi Manjun, who suggested that Sabah emulate China where most entry points have health screening facilities and personnel, Wong said the state did not presently have such a mechanism in place to screen visitors for TB.

“For foreign labourers who come into the state properly, we have no problem checking, but it is difficult for illegal immigrants because we don’t know where they’re coming from,” he said, adding however that the ministry would consider Masidi’s suggestion. -FMT

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