Every year, nearly 9 million people get diagnosed with tuberculosis and
3 million of them die from the disease. Tuberculosis was almost cured
at the end of the 80s of the last century. Now, the disease is still
going strong. Some specialists think that in the near future
tuberculosis will practically become an incurable disease. The reason
for that is because some countries are not serious towards treating the
disease. Some other reasons include the disorganized
counter-tuberculosis projects and the connection between tuberculosis
and AIDS. However, the major issue in the medical world today is that
the drugs are not effective. The most influential drugs are forty years
old. Since we are talking about the drugs, we must mention that the old
drugs can not help cure a disease such as kokh bacillus. The TB MDR can
develop in a patient’s organism as a result of an irregular or
incomplete treatment. Those kinds of patients are insensitive to first
degree antibiotics-rhiphampitsin and isoniazid. They must be kept away
from society because they can infect others with the MDR bacillus.
According to recent statistics, the number of people in Armenia who
have tuberculosis reaches 6,000. Compared to some countries, the number
can be reduced. However the question is: what can be done towards
accomplishing that?
The Ministry of Health is implementing a project aimed towards fighting
against tuberculosis, along with a number of international
organizations that are providing the financial means. The Armenian
government alone can not reduce the number of patients diagnosed with
tuberculosis, or cure the patients with MDR whose treatments last 1-2
years and cost $5-25,000 dollars depending on the stability. In the
course of the next four years, the financial branch of the “Doctors
without limits” organization will take care of all the expenses having
to do with revealing, treating, care and supervision of the patients
with MDR. “It is known that the poor are the ones that get diagnosed
with tuberculosis, meaning that this is a disease that affects
society,” says Director of the Mission Christian Ferien. “We are
getting ready to work in the districts that are not in such good
conditions, for example Malatia-Sebastia and Shengavit. Studies show
that those districts have the highest percentage of tuberculosis
cases.”
The budget for the project consists of $3,800,000 dollars, not
including the salaries for the staff. According to Christian Ferrie,
the project will enlist 300 patients. The effects of the drugs and not
following up on their well-being are what add to the difficulties that
the “Doctors without Limits” organization must overcome. First of all,
in order for the patients to complete their treatment,
social/psychological aid will be provided for the patients and their
families. As for the drugs, there is no alternative. The whole world
uses the same drugs of the last century. The first class patients will
be able to get treated in February of next year. Besides construction,
reconstruction and furnishings of the medical center within the
framework of the project, the “Doctors without Limits” organization
foresees making diagnostic divisions in Abovyan and Yerevan, as well as
35 beds in order to conduct intensive treatment in the
anti-tuberculosis dispensaries. “If everything goes the way we have
planned, we will have 200 fully recovered patients at the end of the
project. The rest will continue to get treated.”
Fifty convicts diagnosed with tuberculosis
Since 2002, the Armenian branch of the international Red Cross has been
implementing treatment for patients in the prisons and criminal
prosecution centers. Until today, 260 patients have been treated in the
newly built hospital for convicts. As a result, the number of convict
patients has reduced. During the past five years, it has reduced from
4.1% to 3%. Today, the fifty convicts diagnosed with tuberculosis
continue their treatments, however, 80% of these convicts leave the
prison and stop treatment. Director of the Red Cross Tuberculosis
Supervision Division Gegham Petrosyan says that they came face to face
with this problem when there were changes made to the “Civil Code”. As
a result of that, the time periods of imprisonment got shorter and
almost half of the convicts got released. There were also infected
patients among them. “We had suggested helping out the Ministry of
Defense with treating tuberculosis, taking into consideration the fact
that it is urgent to treat the soldiers in the armed forces. However,
the Ministry of Defense refused to accept our offer. We were offering
an effective method of diagnosis, microscopic investigation,
examination of bacteria in the phlegm, but the Ministry wanted to
conduct a phlurographic diagnosis, which was very expensive for us and
so we just limited ourselves to taking photographs.”
Another organization also participating in this project aimed against
tuberculosis is the German GTZ organization, which is being financed by
the German government and the KLW bank. This organization is supplying
our country with first degree antibiotic drugs and selling them around
$20-70 when those drugs generally cost $500 dollars in all pharmacies.
Armenia can not carry this burden on its shoulders. The country needs
the help of other countries in treating tuberculosis. The budget of the
Ministry of Health provides only 120,000 drams for the stationary
treatment of one patient in the State Anti-tuberculosis dispensary in
the city of Abovyan.