KAMPALAMEDICALCHAMBERS

 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.

Around 13 percent of Indonesia’s population, or about 35.8 million people, are suffering from diabetes, and their condition could worsen if not treated sustainably, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Friday.

“If not treated, it could become a chronic disease,” he said.

Sadikin urged the public, particularly children, to start reducing their sugar consumption to prevent chronic disease.

He said that high consumption of sugary foods and drinks has been linked to kidney failure in children.

Taking note of the current trend of children taking sugary foods and drinks, Sadikin asked that sugar consumption be reduced to safe limits to lower the risk of disease.

“Sugar is the cause of all kinds of diseases, including kidneys, liver, stroke, and heart disease,” he said, adding that daily sugar intake must not exceed four teaspoons.

On the same occasion, West Java Acting Governor Bey Triadi Machmudin said that parents and family have an important role in ensuring healthy food consumption and reducing sugar, salt, and fat intake.

He urged the Health Ministry and related parties to immediately apply special labels to packaged food and drinks to prevent a spike in cases of children on dialysis, whose number has been detected to be high.

“We hope the labeling can give assurance to the public. For example, a green label means safe for consumption,” he explained.

Earlier, the Hasan Sadikin Central General Hospital (RSHS) in Bandung, West Java, assured there has been no spike in the number of child patients requiring dialysis or hemodialysis treatment at the hospital.

Dr. Ahmedz Widiasta from the nephrology division of RSHS said on Thursday that around 20 children undergo dialysis routinely every month at the hospital.

So far, the number of pediatric patients undergoing hemodialysis at RSHS is stable and has not shown a significant increase, he said. Some patients have been referred to get treatment at hospitals in their respective areas.

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