Ministry Of Health Expands Mobile X-Ray Service To Prevent TB Transmission Risk

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin inspects the operation of a "mobile X-ray" device for TB detection in Yogyakarta, Thursday (31/3/2022). (ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Health).

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health minimizes the risk of Tuberculosis (TB) transmission by expanding the "mobile X-ray" service to intensify the tracking of active cases in the community.

"Today we have 'launched' (launched) 'mobile X-ray', this expansion has been carried out in several places so that people can be directly photographed without having to come to the hospital. In this way patients can be identified and treated early, " said Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono as reported by Antara, Friday, April 1.

He said the expansion of mobile TB screening targeted seven provinces, namely North Sumatra, Banten, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, and South Sulawesi.

"People who have direct contact with TB sufferers, people with HIV, people with Diabetes Mellitus, they are one of the targets of TB skinning," he said.

He said the findings of active cases through a "mobile X-ray" were carried out by examination using a chest X-ray. This is to see whether the patient has indications of suffering from tuberculosis or not.

If TB is identified, said Dante, the patient is immediately handled by health workers for further treatment.

He said the facility was able to increase the discovery of active TB cases in the community. The capacity of health workers and the readiness of health services, such as puskesmas and hospitals, to carry out diagnosis, treatment, and prevention are absolutely necessary so that patient care can be completed.

The "mobile X-ray" service was first initiated by Zero TB Yogyakarta in collaboration with the Yogyakarta Special Region Government to track TB cases in the local area and Kulon Progo Regency, which currently has a fairly high number of cases.

This health service innovation is part of the effort to accelerate the reduction of TB prevalence in Yogyakarta by 50 percent over the next five years.

Reporting from the Ministry of Health report in 2020, the number of TB cases in Indonesia reached 824,000 cases, while the number of deaths from TB reached 93,000 cases every year. This data places Indonesia as the country with the third most cases in the world after India and China.

Separately, the Director of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control (P2PM) at the Ministry of Health, Didik Budijanto, said the number of cases in Indonesia is equivalent to 11 deaths per hour due to TB.

He said 91 percent of cases in Indonesia were pulmonary TB which had the potential to infect healthy people in the vicinity.

"One TB case has the potential to infect 15 people in the vicinity," he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, he said, hampered case tracking efforts. Of the estimated number of TB cases in the country reaching 824,000 patients, only 49 percent of them were successfully detected and treated.

"So there are still more than 421,000 people who have not been treated and are a source of transmission to people around them," he said.