CMO: No TB outbreak in TT

Chief medical officer Dr Roshan Parasram said there is no outbreak of tuberculosis in TT.

He was responding to questions from the media during the Health Ministry’s virtual press conference on Wednesday morning.

One reporter said he had heard reports that the tuberculosis ward at the Caura Hospital was filled to capacity, and asked if this was true.

Parasram said the hospital’s thoracic medical director Dr Michelle Trotman said it was not.

He said in 2019, there were 242 cases and there have only been 196 cases thus far in 2020.

“In June 2019, there were 12 (patients), in June 2020 there were 30. In July 2019, there were 37, and in July 2020 there were 26.

"So the distribution is more or less the same from last year to this year.”