China provided free treatment to 2.05 million lung tuberculosis
(TB) patients in the past five years, a sign of progress in the
country's TB control, the Ministry of Health said Friday.
By the end of 2005, the detection rate of new TB cases had
reached 79 percent and the recovery rate reached 91 percent, a
significant rise from previous years, said the ministry's spokesman
Mao Qun'an at a press conference held in Beijing.
China is one of the 22 countries under high pressure of TB with
the total cases ranking second in the world after India. Currently,
the country has about 5 million TB patients, 80 percent of whom
live in the countryside.
The national guidelines on TB control require health departments
to give free examination and treatment to TB patients who are
unable to afford it, according to Mao.
"Currently, all TB patients, whether in cities or in the
countryside, can enjoy free examination and treatment," he told
Xinhua.
To ensure TB control in rural areas, screening laboratories were
set up in township health centers in underdeveloped counties last
year. Health authorities also gave subsidies to township and
village doctors for detecting new TB cases, Mao said.
Starting from 2001, the State Council has allocated 40 million
yuan (US$5 million) every year for TB prevention and control. The
fund rose to nearly 300 million yuan?in 2004, he added.
In the next five years, the ministry intends to find and treat 2
million infectious lung TB patients and lower the death rate by
half from the figure in 1990, said Mao.
Tuberculosis is a chronic disease that can spread by airborne
particles emitted from the infected through coughing, sneezing or
talking. There are 9 million new TB cases and nearly 2 million TB
deaths worldwide, according to the World Health
Organization.
(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2006)