MOH given more power to fight spread of TB
Surge in new cases makes it vital that all patients follow treatment.
Sat, Nov 29, 2008
The Straits Times
TUBERCULOSIS (TB) patients can be barred from travel, forced to take their medicines and have their illness disclosed to other authorities from Monday.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) has made it possible for TB patients to be subjected to these strictures because the number of cases has started rising again, despite attempts to eradicate it.
TB is only the second disease after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) to be handled this way.
NEW POWERS
-Stop patients with TB from travelling on commercial flights
-Ask airlines for contact details of passengers seated within two rows of an infectious patient on flights lasting eight hours or more
-Force recalcitrant patients to go through treatment, and keep them at the CDC until they are cured
-Reveal to the police or the immigration authorities why it needs their help to find patients. The need to keep the patient's illness confidential has 'sometimes led to operational difficulties' in requests to the police or the immigration authorities, said an MOH spokesman.
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