Hence, we can tailor the recovery packages according to the patient's needs
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government is aiming to achieve 90-percent detection of tuberculosis (TBC) cases nationwide by 2024 through the improvement of disease surveillance strategies, according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

"Of the (currently projected) 824 thousand residents with TBC, I hope that by 2024, some 90 percent of the cases must have been detected by name and by address," Sadikin stated as per the statement received here, Saturday.

While presenting his remarks during the 2022 Indonesia Tuberculosis International Meeting (INA-TIME) in Bali, Friday (September 9), he highlighted the importance of early detection and handling of patients with the infectious disease.

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"The main principle of infectious disease (handling) is that we must know where are they, and we must rescue them. This is our priority task," he noted.

Sadikin said that as the genome sequencing process is required to achieve earlier detection of the TBC bacteria variants, the government is planning to set up mobile genome sequencing installation as a pilot project.

"Hence, we can tailor the recovery packages according to the patient's needs," the minister said.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry's Director General of Disease Prevention and Control, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, said that tuberculosis remains one of the main health issues in Indonesia and in the world.


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Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death in the world, he remarked while adding that Indonesia is the third country to be most affected by TBC after India and China.

The government is exerting efforts to eliminate TBC by 2030 to achieve an incidence rate of 65 per 100 thousand residents and a fatality rate of six per 100 thousand residents.

According to the Global TB Report in 2021, tuberculosis cases in Indonesia were estimated at 824 thousand, yet only 48 percent, or equal to 393,323 cases, were reported to the national database.


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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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