By Jim Lloyd Dongiapon
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Since April of this year, the South Cotabato Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) has detected 810 cases of tuberculosis (TB) and 34 cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as they resumed their mobile health services following the dwindling of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) cases in the province.
According to IPHO chief Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr., detected TB patients were among the 4,200 people from 55 barangays in the province who availed their mobile health services in the last five months.
“We have already linked the TB patients to the treatment facilities, and now they are being treated,” Aturdido said.
He added that the IPHO mobile team is using a mobile X-ray machine to detect TB cases because convincing residents to submit sputum samples for TB testing has been difficult.
In addition to TB testing, their mobile health services provide free HIV and leprosy testing, particularly in remote communities.
Of 1,000 residents in 29 out of 199 barangays in South Cotabato, 34 were reactive to HIV. This does not include the figures from hotspot areas that their teams are monitoring at night.
He also confirmed that IPHO had established the AIDS Core Team Clinic, which provides HIV and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) patients with one-stop treatment, care, and counseling services.
On Monday, September 5, the program got a boost as Governor Reynaldo S. Tamayo,Jr., turned over a commuter van to IPHO Infectious Disease Cluster.
The vehicle will be used by the IPHO to expand their HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, leprosy, and other screening and testing services to more communities in their province.