JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) is preparing quarantine techniques for tuberculosis (TBC) patients to break the chain of disease transmission to those around them.
"Referring to the results of the government's limited meeting, it is proposed that there be a quarantine for TB patients to ensure that people who will take drugs for at least 2 weeks to two months run regularly," said Head of the Communication and Public Service Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, July 20.
He said the government initiated the provision of representative facilities for active TB patients to ensure that the intake of balanced drugs and nutrition can be met regularly.
The form of quarantine facilities prepared refers to the TB Sanatorium which was operating in Indonesia during the Dutch East Indies era.
"Later we will build quarantine facilities, they can be in the form of a hospital. There used to be a TB Sanatorium, which is mandatory (quarantine) for six months," he said.
The Ministry of Health has not yet determined whether the quarantine facilities that will be available for TB patients are mandatory or optional.
What is certain, said Nadia, is that the main goal of providing quarantine facilities is to ensure that infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes tuberculosis does not spread to families or those closest to patients.
According to Nadia, people living with TB need consistent intake of hard drugs. Consumption of regular drugs for two weeks to two months can ensure that the TB suffered is more controlled.
Nadia explained that TB sufferers are generally experienced by people at low socio-economic levels, so it is not uncommon for balanced nutritional intake to not be met due to financial limitations.
"For example, there are people who take drugs for two weeks or two months to go back and forth from their homes, or they are workers, but the company does not give permission. So we facilitate the quarantine," he said.
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A simple picture of the technical quarantine of TB patients, said Nadia, is like the provisions for COVID-19 patients that apply during the pandemic.
"Meanwhile, technically it was only yesterday, technically it is still being prepared whether (quarantine) is mandatory or not," he said.
The Ministry of Health reported that more than 700 thousand TB cases were detected in 2022. This figure is the highest since TB became a national priority program.
TB disease in Indonesia is reportedly ranked second after India, with 969 thousand cases and 93 thousand deaths per year or the equivalent of 11 deaths per hour.
Based on the 2022 Global TB Report, the highest number of TB cases in the world in the productive age group is mainly at the age of 25 to 34 years. In Indonesia, the highest number of TB cases is in the productive age group, in the range of 45 to 54 years.
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