A British aid program to offer free check-ups and medical
treatment to poor tuberculosis sufferers has benefited 44,517
people in southwest China.
The program, with financing of 91.06 million yuan (US$11.38
million), has been carried out in 87 counties and cities in Guizhou Province since 2002, said a Guizhou
Provincial Health Bureau official.
"Poor rural people and the needy in the urban districts who have
contracted TB, but fallen out of the cover of a healthcare system
are entitled to the program," said the official.
The financing includes a loan of 36.12 million yuan from the
World Bank, on which interest has been offset by financial aid
provided by the Department for International Development, a UK aid
agency, said the official, who failed to give an exact figure of
the financial aid.
An effective TB prevention and control network, comprising
administration, consulting panel and medical treatment, and a
training center, has been set up in all 87 areas where the program
is implemented, playing an important role in monitoring,
registering TB sufferers and offering them timely treatment.
However, Guizhou, where the incidence of TB is high, still has
160,000 registered patients, of whom, one third are children.
The program will end on Dec. 31, 2008.
(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2006)