ABU DHABI // The law that requires compulsory deportation of expatriates with tuberculosis is counterproductive and should be changed, a senior health official said yesterday. Dr Ali al Marzooqi, the director of public health and safety at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), said fear of deportation causes most expatriates with the disease to “disappear” once they are diagnosed.
Speaking at InnovHealth 2010, a two-day health conference in Abu Dhabi, Dr al Marzooqi also said the private sector should be allowed to treat patients with TB.Currently, only public hospitals and clinics are allowed to treat the disease. They are required to notify the concerned health authority of each diagnosis and refer it to public safety officials, who are required to follow up.Last year in Dubai alone, the DHA received 242 TB notifications mostly from the private sector. Nearly 60 per cent of those – 142 cases – were lost and could not be followed up.
“We don’t know what happened to those cases, maybe they left the country and went back to their homes for two months or three or four to take their medication there, then come back,” Dr al Marzooqi said. He added that patients tended to provide fake names or contact details to avoid deportation.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100426/NATIONAL/704259809/1133/FOREIGN
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