The Ministry of Health says it is appalled by revelations that people who were asked to provide samples of their stool or urine for typhoid disease lab tests had falsified them.
The Ministry said these people used only one or two persons in the household to provide the samples for the rest of them.
“It has been proved at the labs that people are abusing the samples,” Chief Health Inspector Sela Faʻu of the Ministry told the Tonga Broadcasting Commission television service.
Faʻu has pleaded for the public to stop deceiving the Ministry and help them in trying to cure the fever.
She said the Ministry provided household members with small empty bottles for their samples and each one had her or his name labelled on it.
“It was unfortunate these people could not help,” Faʻu said.
She said this was the reason why typhoid could not be eliminated because the potential typhoid candidates could not be identified at the lab through their samples.
Faʻu said it was easy to cure the disease if the candidate was identified through lab tests.
Faʻu said out of 11 typhoid patients identified in Tongtapu, five had been at the village of Veitongo.
She said the number meant the Ministry had to declare there was a typhoid outbreak in Tongatapu.
As a matter of routine, it was followed by a public educational health programme on radio and television and health officers visited the villages.
This included spraying of chlorine in the areas where typhoid candidates were staying.
As we reported last week, Radio New Zealand said Tonga had temporarily banned kava drinking in public halls to control an outbreak of typhoid.
The Ministry of Health has also imposed a month long ban on making food for public gatherings such as funerals.
The main points
- The Ministry of Health says it is appalled by revelations that people who were asked to provide samples of their blood, stool, or urine for typhoid disease lab tests had falsified them.
- The Ministry said these people used only one or two persons in the household to provide the samples for the rest of them.
- Chief Health Inspector Sela Faʻu of the Ministry said the Ministry provided household members with small bottles for their samples and each one had her or his name labelled on it.
- Faʻu said it was easy to cure the disease if the candidate was identified through lab tests.
For more information
Villagers in typhoid hotspot banned from sharing food until end of month
