The head of the section for the control of Tuberculosis of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), Edwin Aizpurúa, highlighted that during the period of the pandemic a percentage of abandonment or loss in the follow-up of these patients was registered.
In this sense, they are working on a campaign to raise awareness and go to health centers and polyclinics to resume treatment, because it is the only way that the infection does not spread.
The doctor explained that once the diagnosis is made, the patient enters the tuberculosis program, where he is monitored monthly and other diseases are searched for. “All of this treatment is free,” he stressed.
This tuberculosis program has in its entire structure at the national level, more than 800 health centers. Anyone who has a cough for more than 15 days, fever, night sweats or weight loss can come.
“Tuberculosis in our country has a high incidence in regional areas, Guna Yala is the first, followed by the Ngäbe-Buglé and Bocas del Toro regions, then we move on to the metropolitan area, Panamá Oeste and San Miguelito,” concluded the doctor.
