TAWAU: There were 4,700 tuberculosis (TB) cases reported in Sabah last year, making the state with the second highest incidence of the disease in the country after Selangor.
Sabah Anti-Tuberculosis Association (SABATA) president Henry Peter J. Mogindol, said the number afflicted by this dangerous infectious disease is increasing at an alarming rate due with the inclusion of foreigners or outsiders who fail to undergo health inspection.
Mogindol said that Kota Kinabalu is among the districts with the highest number of TB cases reported after Keningau and Tambunan. One of the factors contributing to this increase is because the residents there has been known to share the straw used for drinking rice wine (tapai).
In 2012, a total of 4,390 TB patients throughout the state had sought treatment with only 101 of them stopping the treatment half way.
In the first six months of 2013, Mogindol said, 2,264 TB patients throughout the state went for treatment with only 16 failing to do so.
“In Tawau, averagely some 50 TB cases are reported each month but only 485 TB patients sought treatment while 17 did not do so; in Sandakan (544 patients had sought treatment and 17 did not) while in Kota Kinabalu (687 patients sought treatment and 25 did not),” he disclosed.
He therefore strongly urged the government to conduct a rigorous health examination of outsiders entering the state in order to curb the spread of the TB disease.
Also present were Sabah Anti Tuberculosis Association (Sabata) Tawau president, Francis Clement and the committee members.