Bauchi Govt. procures 13 tuberculosis x-ray machines worth $1.9m
By Idris Ayinde
The Bauchi state government says it has procured 13 Portable Digital X-ray machines for Tuberculosis diagnosis worth 1.9 million dollars in the state.
Dr. Adamu Sambo, Executive Chairman, Bauchi State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria (BACATMA) stated this in Bauchi on Wednesday while on a facility tour to the state’s External Quality Assurance Reference Lab.
According to him, each of the 13 machines is worth over 150,000 dollars and are meant only for Tuberculosis diagnosis in the state.
“The machines are mobile. Once you provide the logistics for moving it, tests can be conducted in one particular location and then move to another location for the same mission.
“These machines can take the picture of your chests and it will immediately detect if there is tuberculosis in your chests and they are very new technology and we have 13 of them.
“Five of them had already been put on mobile conducting tests in different facilities with a lot of clients and we deployed others to other strategic locations,” he said.
Sambo explained that the machines’ images were of high resolution with less radioactive dangers to human health, saying “their exposure to radio activities is very minimal compared to other conventional machines that we have been using”.
The Chairman, who noted that the number of the machines in the state were the highest in the whole Northeast, said that Gov. Bala Mohammed was willing to bring more of the machines for the people of the state.
He also explained that the Bauchi state External Quality Assurance Reference Lab of BACATMA is a place where people could come to check their HIV and tuberculosis status as well as blood group, free of charge.
He charged all intending couples to go to the lab and have all the necessary tests conducted for them before tying the knot, adding that no dime would be collected for conducting the test.
“These are some of the wonders of the state governor in the agency for the people of Bauchi state. Testing kits and consumables in this lab are provided by the Bauchi state government,” he said.
