Print

Mail

wiki links

Taiwan Quick Take: Pingtung a TB hotspot

Pingtung County has the nation's third-highest rate of tuberculosis (TB) after Hualien and Taitung counties, a county health bureau official said yesterday. According to figures released by the Pingtung County Health Bureau, more than 1,000 people have tuberculosis in the county, which means 110 to 120 among every 100,000 people suffer from the disease. A county councilor claimed that the high rate of tuberculosis was a result of X-ray machines being left idle because of a lack of radiologists. But health officials countered that the lack of personnel was due to a national budget shortage, but since other X-ray inspection trucks make two trips per year to indigenous villages, tuberculosis screening is considered sufficient. Official tallies show that TB incidence is comparatively high in Aboriginal communities.

This story has been viewed 1612 times.