High incidence of Tuberculosis in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Eleven patients died of tuberculosis (TB) of a total of 173 cases reported in the Jaffna Peninsula in 1997, said sources in Jaffna. There 125 patients receiving treatment at the TB clinic of the Jaffna hospital.

Jaffna had a special hospital for TB patients in Mayiliddy near Kankesanthurai (KKS) which is in the High Security Zone (HSZ) surrounding the Palaly military base in the Jaffna peninsula. The Myliddy TB hospital has been destroyed.

There has been an incidence of communicable diseases which were either rare or eradicated in the Jaffna peninsula in the past. Cases of malaria, cholera, TB and even leprosy have reappeared greater numbers than before.

Displacement of the Jaffna population after Operation Riviresa, the lack of medical supplies and the shortage of medical staff have been attributed to the resurgence of these diseases.