Duque orders probe on TB spread among Caraga mine workers

BUTUAN CITY – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III ordered yesterday an investigation into the reported spread of tuberculosis in mining areas in Claver, Surigao del Norte, following reports that a big number of workers in three mining firms there have contracted the infectious disease.

After a press conference here,  Duque also directed DOH Caraga regional director Leonila Gorgolon to look into the prevalence of tuberculosis in the region and find a solution to the problem.

The DOH chief was here to kick off the department’s nationwide anti-dengue campaign.

Since January, 3,463 dengue cases have been reported in Metro Manila and 50 towns across the country.

The DOH’s anti-dengue drive is centered on areas that have a high number of cases of the mosquito-borne disease.

In 2006 alone, there were eight recorded deaths due to dengue. Cases of the viral disease were high in the Caraga region that year.

Duque asked nickel mining and quarrying companies in Barangay Cagdianao, Claver town why it took them so long to discover the prevalence of tuberculosis among their workers.

Some quarters blamed the spread of the disease on heavy dust caused by rampaging cargo trucks of mining firms that pass the rough, dusty roads daily and almost every hour in highly populated areas.

While the mining firms denied this, Duque said too much dust inhaled by a person triggers tuberculosis.

Doctors of the three mining firms, who are also government health officers in Barangay Cagdianao, admitted that some mine workers were found to have symptoms of the highly contagious but curable disease.

But Dr. Roland Mira, a municipal health officer of Gigaquit, Surigao del Norte and a retainer doctor of mining firms Platinum Group Metals Corp., Taganito Mining Corp. and Oriental Synergy Mining Corp., said the spread of tuberculosis among the workers was not mining-related.

An 18-man multipartite monitoring team formed by Bureau of Mines and Geosciences regional director Alilio Ensomo to assess cases of tuberculosis among the mine workers, recommended that the mining companies closely coordinate with provincial and municipal health workers to contain the disease.

Among the towns affected by tuberculosis were Alegria, with 29 cases; Bacuag, 44; Gigaquit, 43; Mainit, 95; Malimono, 48; Sison, 22; San Francisco, 40; Tubod, 54; Placer, 50; and Taganaan, 38.