Jakarta (ANTARA) - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said that his ministry will distribute portable X-rays to areas with high incidence of tuberculosis in a bid to promote screening of children for the disease.

In a statement received here on Friday, he noted that in children, tuberculosis cannot be physically observed, and they cannot be forced to cough, hence their screening requires the use of Roentgen rays, for instance, with the help of portable X-rays.

"As for national scale need, we feel like each province must have two portable X-rays, but right now, we want to prioritize it to provinces which have high TBC cases," Sadikin informed at the TBC campaign during National Children's Day commemoration in Bandung on Friday.

According to him, the portable X-rays are aids given by United Arab Emirates. Currently, there are 25 such devices in Indonesia, which are spread across 15 districts and cities in 8 provinces prioritized for TB elimination by 2030.

The prioritized areas, he added, are Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, East Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, and Maluku.

He said he expects that after the initiative in Bandung, other areas that receive the devices will immediately pursue active case finding in August 2024.

Sadikin highlighted that Indonesia has the second-highest TB cases after India. It records 1.060 million new cases and 134 thousand deaths every year — that means, there are 15 deaths from TB per hour in the country.

"Which is why currently, the government, after the COVID-19 pandemic, has been aggressively handing TBC (through) surveillance, to find just where they (the patients) are," he explained.

The minister informed that the surveillance team detected at least 500 thousand cases in 2021, 700 cases in 2022, and 800 thousand cases in 2023.

"It is expected that this year, 900 thousand TBC cases will be detected. Because if THC cases are found, (they) can immediately be treated. Only four to six months can be healthy," he said.

He stressed that TBC patients will not infect others if they receive treatment, adding he expects the initiative to help suppress the number of cases.

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Reporter: Mecca Yumna Ning Prisie
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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