Jakarta – At least 175,000 people die from tuberculosis (TB) in Indonesia each year, primarily due to ignorance and a reluctance to seek medical treatment, an official said on Thursday.

Ministry of Health medical supervisor for lung disease eradication Halim Danusantoso said its data showed that the disease was prevalent in Indonesia with about 500,000 people being infected by the disease annually.

"The mortality rate of the disease is high because people infected with the illness are reluctant to visit public health centers to undergo routine medical treatment," he said at a press conference held in conjunction with the upcoming World TB Day on March 24.

Besides being poor, the sufferers were frequently ashamed if they were found out to have contracted the disease, Halim said. This condition was worsened by the fact that the health facilities capable of giving routine medical services were very limited, he said.

Halim said TB patients could be cured easily within six months, expressing regret that some patients quit taking the medication before their disease was completely cured.

Halim urged anyone who suspected they or members of their family were infected to seek immediate help from the health centers and sign six-month treatment contracts as the government in cooperation with the Coalition of Healthy Indonesia provided free TB drugs.

"The contracts are needed to avoid treatment termination," Halim said, adding that the patients quitting the contracts would be asked to bear the treatment costs.

TB is Indonesia's third-largest killer disease, behind cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and ahead of infections/parasites and diarrhea. Indonesia had the third largest number of TB cases in the world behind India and China.

The government, therefore, adopted an integrated anti-TB program, called Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS), following a recommendation from the World Health Organization. The strategy attempts to provide a complete response, including identification of infection and treatment.

However, disease rates were still soaring due to limited publicity surrounding the problem, Communicable Diseases and Environmental Health director general Umar Fahmi Ahmad said. He criticized the 6,830 community health centers nationwide as failing to identify people with TB.