Ongoing screening and treatment programmes have helped to control the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in the prison system, but more can be done.
According to Head of the National Tuberculosis Control Programme Dr Jeetendra Mohanlall, there is still the need for more human resources to deal with TB in the prison system.
Dr Mohanlall, asked during a recent interview about the challenges the programme is facing in dealing with TB in the prisons, told Stabroek News that the work of his unit in the prisons requires sufficient human resources to facilitate the screening of prisoners. He also said the prison administration needs to take more ownership of the programme.
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by germs that are spread from person to person through the air, and which can damage the lungs and other parts of the body and cause serious illness and even death.
It is treatable and curable, and through the National Tuberculosis Control Pro-gramme in Guyana, all essential services and drugs are free of cost.
Director of Prisons Dale Erskine said that currently there are 13 confirmed cases of prisoners infected with TB in the prison system.
Three cases are from the New Amsterdam Prison and the remaining 10 are from the Georgetown Prison. Zero cases have been reported from the Mazaruni Prison.
Erskine said that due to the highly-contagious nature of the disease, TB clinics were set up in the prisons in New Amsterdam, George-town and Mazaruni to treat and screen prisoners for it. All persons who enter the prisons are screened for TB and HIV/AIDS due to the relationship of the two diseases.
The prison medex at the respective prisons would also screen prisoners for the disease and send that information to the TB unit, Erskine added.
In an effort to ensure that persons with TB are identified and treated, Erskine said, prison officers are vigilant in terms of identifying persons who may show signs of the disease, such as repeated coughing, and they are required to report these persons to the prison medex.
Once an individual is identified as having TB, treatment is administered and prison officials ensure that the inmate takes his/her medication. Treatment lasts for six months but after taking the medications for about two weeks, patients can become non-infectious, Dr Mohanlall said.
Officials from the Nation-al Tuberculosis Control Programme would visit the prisons twice a month to screen and treat prisoners with the disease but more visits are done depending on the nature of the situation. As a result of the intensive work they are doing, Dr Mohanlall stated that from October last year to January this year they have had no new reported cases of TB in the prisons.
Prisoners with TB are kept in a separate section in the prison and they are required to wear face masks once they are going to court, Erskine added.
He also said that it is important for prisoners with the disease to continue their treatment once they leave the prison system.
To ensure that this is done, he noted, a healthcare card is given to those who have been released so that they can access treatment from their health centres or hospitals.
“The whole TB programme in the prison is geared not only for the prison but to ensure that when they leave the prison they don’t contaminate their family or friends so we try to follow them up,” he explained.
He added that a lot of work is being done by the TB programme to address TB in the prison system, while Dr Mohanlall noted that there is a TB Control Committee for the prisons that meets three times per year to discuss TB in the prison system.
