Inappropriate social policies generate tuberculosis

The worsening tendency of the situation in the matter of tuberculosis is due to inappropriate social policies of the state operated for many years, Ion Mereuta, doctor in medicine, professor, stated for IPN. Dr. Mereuta considers that including tuberculosis and other social diseases in the list of diseases treated of the compulsory medical insurances is a mistake, which, imminently, leads to increasing of the number of illnesses. Included in this list, social diseases are treated only after they are detected, the prophylaxis being totally ignored. This happens in conditions when, he noted, about 450,000 persons of rural regions do not have medical insurances. Dr. Mereuta is sure that preventing and treating social diseases have to be done by means of sustainable state programs, through creating a National Health Fund, which will finance these activities. „If the state does not make the necessary efforts in prophylaxis of social-conditioned diseases, we will get the results hardly to imagine,” Dr. Ion Mereuta mentioned, adding that tuberculosis is the illness of poor people and appears, conditioned by sub-nutrition, which, at its turn, leads to immunology changes. Another cause, not less important, of increasing number of tuberculosis cases and other social diseases, is the excessive migration of the population and the lack of an appropriate control over persons crossing the boundary. Dr. Ion Mereuta believes that all persons who leave the country should pass a serious testing and to get a health certificate, and those who enter, should make appropriate investigations and not to be let to enter the country without this certificate. „We have to think about the genetic heritage, or the country which has 179,000 disabled people, 15,000 persons infected with tuberculosis, 200,000 psychiatric patients, a country, where for many years no natural population growth attest, but there is excessive migration, abandoned children, neglected old people, where there is a dignity, mentality and morality crisis, it has no chances for future,” Dr. Ion Mereuta added. The last year, including Transnistrian region, about 5,600 cases of tuberculosis were registered, by 500 cases more than in 2004. The death rate was 133,4 illnesses per 1,000 persons, and tuberculosis rate increased by 9,2 % compared to last year. The biggest rate of tuberculosis cases was registered in Criuleni, Straseni, Calarasi, Ialoveni, districts, Telenesti and Ungheni towns and in Chisinau municipality. The experts noted that tuberculosis prophylaxis and tracing is more complicated that other contagious diseases. In case of tuberculosis, there is no incubation period. It attacks all human organs and has multiple severe clinical symptoms, still tuberculosis is sometimes hard to detect.