To screen for TB DepEd staff to get free health profile

As part of the Teachers Health Welfare Enhancement Program and in compliance with Civil Service Commission Memorandum No. 17, the Department of Education teaching and non-teaching staff will undergo health profiling and annual physical examination including chest X-rays every year.

This is one of the health service deliveries being rendered by the Department of Education in its effort of strengthening its TB Prevention and Control Program, wherein all chest X-ray results suggestive of TB will be subject to sputum microscopy to establish the diagnosis.

The Department of Health will be collaborating with DepEd on this activity and assist it on its program needs such as the provision of medicines, microscopes and other supplies and materials, capability building activities, monitoring and evaluation and will serve as the referral center for pulmonary cases in the field.

Other than this, DepEd has also directed school health personnel to disseminate information on TB prevention and control to students, teachers, and non-teaching personnel. Health instructions in the classrooms will intensify and give emphasis on the prevention, early diagnosis and the proper treatment of TB.

School heads are also directed to provide administrative support including the appropriate funding for the effective operations of the DepEd TB Prevention and Control Programs in their areas wherein principals will also be held accountable for the complete treatment and cure of the members of his teaching and non teaching staff found positive for TB.

All schools medical officers and nurses in charge will also be trained by the Department of Health on the adoption of the Comprehensive and Unified Policy on TB Control in the Philippines (CBUTCP) through the utilization of the DOTS strategy or the Directly Observed Treatment Short Course Strategy wherein a person found positive of TB will undergo medication consecutively for six months. - Jasmin R. Uy