Tamang reached Durgapuri Health Post seeking treatment only when he found it hard to move. Health workers diagnosed him with Tuberculosis (TB) and put him under medication. But the treatment at the local health post could not improve his health as the problem had already become chronic.
The health workers asked him to go to a hostel for TB patients at Biratnagar, where he could receive Multi Drug Resistance (MDR) treatment. At present, Tamang is receiving medication at the hostel.
Tamang blamed his negligence for all the suffering he has been facing. "I feel somewhat better now," Tamang, who has been residing at the hostel for TB patients for three months, said. In order to facilitate MDR treatment for TB patients, National TB center has been operating a 15-bed hostel in Biratnagar. Apart from free treatment, food and accommodation, the center provides Rs 1,500 in allowance for diet each month to the MDR patients.
Like Tamang, Roshan Sundas of Birtamod-15 of Jhapa district has been receiving treatment at the hostel. Sundas never thought that he would be infected with TB at such an early age. He reached local health post at Mangalbare for treatment after he became very weak. Health workers at the local health post suggested him to go to the hostel as he had been suffering from TB for a long time.
"Doctors at the hostel have said that I have to stay at the hostel for 24 months," said Sundas. He said that anyone could get infected with TB and urged people to seek treatment as soon as symptoms arise.
Persistent cough, constant fatigue, weight loss, appetite loss, fever, coughing up blood, night sweats are the symptoms of TB.
Although the government provides free treatment to TB patients, a lot of infected people die due to negligence and delayed treatment. The District Public Health Office (DPHO) Morang said that about four percent of TB infected people who seek treatment died every year. Muluk Chandra Rajbanshi, the TB inspector at the DPHO, said that it is difficult to find TB patients even though the treatment is free. He informed that 1,233 new TB patients were recorded in the last fiscal year. Out of them, 626 were infected from transmittable disease. In Biratnagar Sub-metropolitan City, 225 people have been receiving TB medication. Rajbanshi said that, of the total TB patients in the district, only about 61 percent have sought diagnosis and treatment. "The risk of transmission of the disease is high as 39 percent of patients are yet to come forward to seek diagnosis," he said.
Related story
Revised interest rate corridor system introduced
