WHO bans blood tests for active TB
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: August 03 2011 -

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked to prohibit the prevalent use of blood tests to diagnose active tuberculosis stating that such tests are unreliable, and could lead to incorrect diagnoses, and put millions of lives at risk.

Ever since doctors in Manipur decided to go in for multiple medical tests to analyse medical problems all hell has broken loose for impoverished patients. Asking for multiple tests by doctors it seems could well be a fig leaf to cover their wariness to make a diagnosis.

Some people say the greater the incompetence of the doctors, the more tests they seek. This has become a caricature of medical help care, as delineated by some of our doctors.

Now that we have come to know from the WHO that blood tests on TB patients may be harmful and life ruiners and definitely not desirable, one needs to tell our doctors of their duties to perform with cognizance of the WHO findings.

Two things come to mind regarding medical treatment. Funds and financing are always a big handicap. The second point is that our doctors are, as we suspect, callous in their judgement of their patients’ ailments.

The important message to the TB patients in the state is that they should no longer agree to go for blood tests to determine whether they are afflicted with TB or not.

To go a bit further into understanding the erstwhile practices on TB patients, we should know what has been the real eco-political drive behind this blatantly bogus insistence to go in for serological tests burdened upon TB patients?

The WHO report says "mainly Western test kit manufacturers misled their customers in developing countries with unfounded claims about their worth and used perverse financial incentives to boost sales."

The WHO report is a true eye opener, many people in the state will now realize the futility of the path they had undertaken to be cured or made whole after having had treatment, following blood tests.

And a question to our brethren in the medical profession, how are you going to explain your fondness for serological tests for TB patients ?

Are you going to explain your stand by saying you had been just following what you were taught ? In which case you are not keeping abreast with the latest medical advances.

On the other hand, if you had been playing around to make a quick buck, you might as well leave your profession, that act in itself will create a huge sigh of relief to the people.