By Gabriel Olawale

Star Deepwater Petroleum Limited and its Co-Venturers in the Agbami field project has screened a total of 14,352 presumptive tuberculosis cases in Nigeria out of which 2,126 cases were detected.

Speaking at the Tuberculosis Awareness Campaign Launch in Mushin area of Lagos State, the Director, DW & PSCS, Star Deepwater Petroleum, Mr. Jeffery Ewing said that since the awarded of Agbami project in 2008, Star Deepwater Petroleum Limited and its Co-Venturers in the Agbami field have consistently made enormous contributions toward the elimination of tuberculosis in the country.

He said, “In partnership with National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program, NTBLCP, 14,352 presumptive tuberculosis cases were screened; 2,126 cases were detected. Contact tracing among 701 smear positive cases yielded 321 extra smear positive contacts, 92 Multi drug-resistance tuberculosis patients were identified and 53 were treated.”

Ewing hinted that the awareness campaign which was the latest tuberculosis initiative by the Agbami Co-venturers will covers Lagos, Rivers, Kano and Kaduna states. Over the past 10 years they have built and donated 25 chest clinics in various states of the Federation, with fully-equipped laboratories, mobile x-ray units and molecular diagnostic machines in state-owned health institutions.

They also trained over 100 laboratory attendants and supervisors for the chest clinics and several other government owned hospitals on molecular-genetic diagnostics of tuberculosis and implemented awareness programmes on HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases in several communities nationwide.

The Sole Administrator, Mushin Local Government Area, Mr. Olayinka Kazeem said that with an estimated population of 1.2 million people in Mushin, the people, mainly traders, have had their own share of tuberculosis.

“As a council, we have strengthened our primary healthcare system to address the health needs of the people. We have upgraded infrastructures in five PHC. We have also engaged four medical doctors and five nurses to complement the existing staff.”