Colombo tops TB deaths

Nadira Gunatilleke

Colombo city is the Tuberculosis (TB) breeding and distributing centre. Every year, 350 persons die from TB in Sri Lanka and 50 are from the Colombo city. Twenty percent of TB patients in Sri Lanka are from Colombo and 80 percent from all the other parts of the country, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry sources said.

According to the sources, National Chest Diseases and TB Control Unit Director Dr. Keerthi Gunasekara had pointed out that there are 887 TB patients only within the Colombo Municipal Council limits while there are 1,062 TB patients within the Colombo Regional Director of Health Services area.

Seventy-five are males and are between the 45 and 70 years. The number of TB patients in the Welikada Prison is 120. The highest number of TB dropouts are also from Colombo.