Obuasi, (Ash), April 21, GNA - Ghana records 30,000 cases of tuberculosis (TB) annually with 15,000 deaths, thus making the disease a major public health problem, Dr Samuel Osei-Somuah, Obuasi Municipal Director of Health Services, has said.

He said the Obuasi Municipality recorded 259 new cases last year as against 222 recorded in 2004.

Dr Osei-Somuah was speaking at the first ever durbar on TB organized by the municipal health directorate for teachers, health personnel, prison officers, market women and the media at Obuasi.

He expressed regret that education on the disease was absent in the country's educational system saying that, nothing is learnt about TB in schools and that it was quite recently that HIV/AIDS had been added to the curriculum of schools.

Dr Osei-Somuah said it was about time the message on the disease was sent to the homes, schools, prisons, churches and mosques so that, people would understand the disease properly, the dangers it posed and guard against it.

During an open forum, the participants asked the Town and Country Planning Department to ensure the proper planning of urban communities since overcrowding and poorly ventilated suburbs could facilitate the disease.