Intensify The Tracing Of TB Cases In Jakarta, Pramono: More And More Are Found, Better

Deputy Minister of Health Benjamin Paulus Octavianus when meeting with DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung at DKI Jakarta City Hall/PHOTO: Diah Ayu-VOI

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung assessed that early detection efforts for the spread of tuberculosis (TBC) in the capital city are quite important. If more and more TB cases in Jakarta are found, there will also be greater opportunities to complete treatment and break the chain of transmission.

This was conveyed by Pramono after a meeting with Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus Octavianus at the DKI Jakarta City Hall.

"Indeed, the TB must be searched for, the more it gets, the better, but the more it is found, the better," said Pramono at DKI Jakarta City Hall, Thursday, November 13.

Pramono revealed that the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is strengthening countermeasures through the formation of a TBC Alert Village based on the Citizens Association (RW). Until now, there are 563 villages that are actively conducting education, assistance, and monitoring of TB patients in their environment.

"For the TB Alert Village, which is based on RW, there are 563 villages. And that is significant. So the TBC Alert Village RW was very good in Jakarta," said Pramono.

In line with the central government's target so that TB cases can be eliminated by 2030, Pramono also targets all RWs in Jakarta to have the status of TB Alert Village in the next five years.

"Ya utama seluruh RW harus ada. Kan kita 267 kelurahan, jadi seluruh RW harus ada," kata Pramono.

Head of the DKI Jakarta Health Office Ani Ruspitawati continued, the DKI Provincial Government is still pursuing the target of finding TB cases set by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, which is more than 70 thousand cases this year.

"Until now, we have found up to 49 thousand. Indeed, the first target for eradicating TB is to find it," explained Ani.

Of these, more than 90 percent of the identified patients have undergone treatment.

"So we continue to look for his duties and continue to find at least 70 thousand people. And of the 49 thousand who have met, 90 percent of them have started treatment," he added.

During the meeting, Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus Octavianus revealed that Jakarta would be a pilot area for accelerating the detection and treatment of tuberculosis.

The DKI Provincial Government, he said, has prepared support through health workers and cadres in the field, namely the White Forces to accelerate the discovery and treatment of TB cases.

"We had a meeting to fight for it and earlier I was happy that the Governor was willing to DKI where we could experiment, all of them were supported. So that the (handling) of the TB case in DKI, the city is good, it's clear, there are many doctors, there are lots of nurses," said Benjamin.