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March 23, 2022 - Amidst from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Tuberculosis (TB) has been another deadly threat that endangers the health of Thai people. According to the data collected by the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Heath in 2021, there were more than 105,000 of new TB patients or 150 new cases per 100,000 population each year, resulting in the mortality of over 10,000 people each year, equivalent to 40 deaths daily. In Thailand, TB has been being the major cause of death and a silent threat that kills many lives. The only approach to eradicate the disease is to implement active case-finding for missing TB patients and utilize diagnosing medical technologies to prevent the spread of TB with an aim to complete 90% treatment coverage of TB patients by 2025.
To achieve this national goal, FUJIFILM (Thailand), in collaboration with The Royal College of Radiologist of Thailand (RCRT), organized academic symposium on “End TB, Where are we and what’s next” to share perspective on the treatment of TB which increases the chance of treating TB patients more effectively.
Dr. Palin Kamonwat, the Director of Tuberculosis Division, the Department of Disease Control, the Ministry of Public Health stated, “TB has long existed for over hundreds of years and continued to spread over. The significant challenge to combat the disease is rapidly reaching out to missing TB patients. Thailand was previously positioned by World Health Organization as one of 14 countries with high TB burden. With the collective effort from all sectors, Thailand has transitioned out from the list with over 10% decline of TB incidence, 80% increase in treatment rate and 30% reduction in catastrophic expenditure in 2021.
The effective approach to put an end to TB epidemic is to reach out to the missing TB patients with the active case-finding to prevent transmission. We also deploy advanced medical innovation by utilizing digital X-ray with AI technology, together with Molecular Technique, in diagnosing TB patients. It allows medical personnel to immediately see patients’ outcomes. It is better than the traditional diagnosis that requires laboratory test. It has high expenditure and takes longer time that once the result is released, there might be a lot of people infectious. The Ministry has targeted to expand treatment coverage of 90% of TB patients in Thailand by 2025, from the previous goal of 84%.
Mr. Adisorn Taprik, General Manager of J.F.Advance Med Co.,Ltd. added on the application of radiologic and IT technology to combat TB epidemic, “The active case-finding for Tuberculosis is an important approach to eradicate TB epidemic and to achieve the goal set by the Ministry. The quicklier new cases are found, the better we could control the disease. However, it is required technology innovation as data analysis needs to be fast and accurate. In addition, the current advancement in medical and IT technology makes all this possible and makes medical equipment more compact and portable which easily access to many areas. Also, it is able to connect to data center network through VPN Tunnel Site to Site which could collect patients’ data systematically in one place. It is secure and greatly enhance efficiency in the proactive screening, minimizing of the delay in the treatment of TB patients.
Mr. Yuto Kumagai, Assistant to Managing Director of FUJIFILM (Thailand) Ltd. said, “Fujifilm continue to develop healthcare innovation and medical equipment from our expertise in photographic film business with the aim to relieve medical burden and enhance the quality of lives of Thai people. We have recently launched our global campaign “NEVER STOP” that reinforces our commitment to assist medical professionals and improve TB situation in Thailand through Fujifilm’s innovative technologies. We continue to develop our technological innovation with an integration of AI to improve medical equipment such as our FDR XAir and FDR Nano which are the mobile digital X-ray unit for TB diagnosis. The digital X-ray unit, aligned with the standard of X-ray unit recommended by WHO, allows medical professionals to diagnose and locate lung abnormality rapidly and accurately, boosting treatment efficiency and reducing mortality rate. Our medical innovations have been widely accepted and implemented in many medical institutions and leading hospitals worldwide.
Tuberculosis is the silent deadly threat of Thai society. It is imperative to reach out to missing TB patients to help reduce diagnosis and treatment delays and prevent the spread of the disease. The advanced medical technology is an important equipment which is highly effective in reducing severe symptom and mortality rate in TB patients, contributing to the end of TB in Thailand.