Bolgatanga, July 28 GNA - A total of 24 patients died out of the 171 Tuberculosis (TB) cases reported in the Bolgatanga Regional hospital in 2005 while 10 out of the 107 cases in the first half of this year have lost their lives.

Mr. Eric Osei, Bolgatanga Municipal TB coordinator, stated these on Wednesday in Bolgatanga at a TB Cases Management training workshop for Doctors, Midwives, Community Health Nurses, Pharmacists, Laboratory Technicians and Media practitioners.

He said statistics worldwide revealed that 3 million TB related deaths were reported annually with Ghana recording 30,000 out of which 30 per cent reported to health facilities.

He attributed this to the stigma attached to the disease, poor diagnosis by health personnel and ignorance on the part of patients.

Mr. Osei said there were only two health facilities in the region that administered the treatment of TB and described

the situation as inadequate. He explained that there were plans by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to decentralise the treatment of the disease to Community Health Centres and appealed to the participants to take the treatment of disease seriously.

The participants were taken through topics such as

understanding Tuberculosis, Strategy for TB control,

suspecting and diagnosing TB, hoe to investigate TB

suspected cases, guidelines for managing TB, TB and HIV

relationship, monitoring and outcome assessment of TB. Participants from the Bolgatanga Municipality attended the

two-day workshop.