6,000 TB deaths in 2015: Govt report

Tuberculosis is still a persisting cause of mortality in Bangladesh as a government report revealed today said it caused 6,000 deaths in 2015 alone.

The information was released by Dr Abdul Hamid Salim, advisor to National Tuberculosis Control Programme, in a press conference in Dhaka today.

Bangladesh government is currently fighting tuberculosis with a campaign slogan Jokhha Hoile Rokhha Nai, Ei Kothar Bhitti Nai (there is no validity in beliefs that tuberculosis is a fatal disease).

A total of over 2,06,000 people were diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2015, Dr Hamid said. "Only 63% of the patients are detected every year, the rest go undetected."

The conference was being held at Jatiya Press Club ahead of the World Tuberculosis Day tomorrow. This year's global theme to observe the day is "Unite to end Tuberculosis."

Dr Mujibur Rahman, a speaker at the programme, pursues that tuberculosis is simple to deal with. "Not being able to detect poses a higher risk. 85 percent of the patients get well with treatment."

In 2014, 1 lakh 97 thousand Bangladeshi people were detected with the disease and 6,000 of those died, the report says. Bangladesh has a high tuberculosis risk for being a South Asian country.

A total of 227 in every 100,000 people are affected every year in the whole world, study says. 41 percent of the patients detected are from South Asia.

Being a member of the region, Bangladesh is under high risk of tuberculosis, the study adds.