Papua New Guinea and the Torres Strait islands are being warned to be under threat of rising TB infections. Following which, Australia is being encouraged to raise funds for the restoration of TB clinics in the independent state and the group of islands.

Doctors have raised concerns that PNG’s Western Province is facing major problems, in regards of care centers. The province is lacking proper care centers, as a result of which people are travelling to other states, including Queensland hospitals, Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville hospitals.

They added that a number of migrants from PNG and the Torres Islands seeking medical assistance for a type of tuberculosis, which has gained resistance against drugs, cholera, AIDS and leprosy, are moving to Queensland. As a result of which, the infection is spreading to even these areas.

The Queensland and Federal governments planned that they will be shutting the health centers in the state’s Northern Province in June. The decision was taken even after World Health Organisation confirmed that the TB situation has worsened.

A respiratory specialist in Cairns, Dr Graham Simpson, said, “They can’t prevent the spread into Australia. Most drug-resistant TB in the state is imported and that it is part of a slow epidemic that is hard to stop”.