Cases of tuberculosis (TB) in the prisons have been cut by half since the implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment Short programme (DOTS), according to Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud.
Persaud, who testified before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Camp Street prison unrest yesterday, said that based on the 2014 report, of the 412 prisoners who were screened for TB across the prisons, 14 were diagnosed with the disease, with most cases being non-infectious. Additionally, of the 687 prisoners who were tested for HIV, 17 were found to be positive.
According to the practitioner, the medical officers are very stringent when comes to following up inmates who are diagnosed with TB and HIV after their release from prison. The clinics, he said, transfer the information of those patients to the medical offices closest to wherever they reside, and if they do not show up for appointments, efforts are made to contact them.
TB is generally classified as being either latent or active. In the latent form of TB, the bacteria are inactive but present in the body and the patient has no symptoms and is not contagious. Active TB, on the other hand, is contagious, and is transferred through coughing, sneezing, shouting, spitting, or any activity that causes bacteria to enter the air and come into contact with uninfected people who breathe the bacteria into their lungs and become infected.
Persaud stated that because of the highly infectious nature of the disease, he believed it necessary that a special unit be set up to treat those infected. In testimony before the Commission, it was related that there is a separate division that houses inmates diagnosed with TB, which is overseen by the medical officers.
The CoI will continue tomorrow but those testimonies will be heard in-camera. The next hearing open to the public, therefore, will be on Monday, when closing arguments will be heard.
