REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA — Muhammadiyah Hospital Gresik has prepared a unique way to monitor Tuberculosis or TB patients. Namely with a special medicine box for TB patients. Deputy Medical Director of the Gresik Muhammadiyah Hospital, Dr. Farida Nuraini, stated that his party has a special cupboard for TB patient drugs.
“Well, the medicine boxes for TB patients are stored there. So, we can monitor if there are patients who don’t come back or have not come to the hospital for a long time. ” said Farida, Tuesday (22/2/2022).
He also admitted that Gresik Muhammadiyah Hospital always motivates patients to carry out regular control and treatment at the TB Poly. This is part of Muhammadiyah Hospital’s vertical efforts in treating and treating TB patients effectively.
Moreover, he said, the possibility of patients not completing treatment is very wide open. In addition to vertical methods or treatment in hospitals, Muhammadiyah Gresik Hospital also seeks to find as many TB cases as possible with horizontal steps.
Namely, by finding or screening many and good TB suspects, or pursuing quality and quantity through networking with ‘Aisyiyah cadres. Farida explained, during the Covid-19 pandemic, this network was delayed.
However, it will be reactivated by providing training for 100 ‘Aisyiyah cadres to be able to do TB screening. “So, this ‘Aisyiyah cadre is given knowledge about TB, effective communication, so that they can do early detection of TB,” said Farida.
According to him, the initial screening process at the hospital can be carried out in the ER or outpatient. First, TB sheets are given to patients who have symptoms of cough, runny nose, fever, weight loss, and chest pain.
However, because these symptoms are similar to Covid-19, usually a screening will be carried out, namely through a complete blood test and antigen or PCR. If the PCR test result is positive, the patient suspected of being infected with Covid-19 will be treated according to his condition.
Meanwhile, if the results are negative, the patient is also examined for a history of comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, and performs follow-up tests. Among them are molecular rapid tests (TCM) and thorax photos.
“So the tests run simultaneously. “Sometimes the patient’s antigen is positive and TCM also concludes that there is tuberculosis bacteria, so the patient suffers from two diseases, TB and Covid-19,” said Farida.
He added that Gresik Muhammadiyah Hospital was committed to increasing the number of TB patient findings and providing the best treatment and care. “We hope that the horizontal and vertical steps that we have taken at the Gresik Muhammadiyah Hospital will be an endeavor that can help Indonesia become TB-free by 2030,” he said.
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