Drug resistant TB costs R30 000
2005-03-18 08:52
Bismark Lubisi, Justin Arenstein
Komatipoort - Drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) costs the government a staggering R30 000 per patient to treat over two years, said national health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Thursday.
Addressing a TB awareness day in Komatipoort ahead of World Stop TB Day on March 24, she said normal TB treatment costs only R300 to treat in a period of just six months.
Drug-resistant TB develops when people with the lung disease fail to follow the treatment properly or don't complete the six-month course.
In South Africa, it is estimated that over 66% of people are infected.
Most of these people have dormant TB germs in their lungs, and will not necessarily develop active TB disease unless their immune system is suppressed through stress, poor diet, or other illnesses.
This is why, Tshabalala-Msimang said, it was crucial for southern African health authorities to understand the role played by poverty in the spread of TB.
"It's impossible for one to take treatment on an empty stomach, that is why food packages are being given to people, especially in rural areas where poverty seems to be taking its toll," she said.
She was meant to be accompanied by the health ministers of Mozambique, Ivo Garrido, and Swaziland, Sipho Shongwe, but they failed to arrive, said spokesman for the provincial health department, Mpho Gabashane.
He was unable to say why they didn't turn up.
A patient at Komatipoort clinic Sam Tibane (42) from Hhoyi tribal trust south of Malelane, said he only discovered in January that he has been suffering from TB.
"I was sweating, coughing blood and losing weight, then I decided to go to the clinic. Now I'm recovering because I've been taking medication as prescribed in the clinic and I'm feeling much better," said Tibane.
Gabashane urged anyone with symptoms of TB to seek help at their local clinic, where treatment is free of charge.
"TB is curable as long as one takes their medication constantly over six months," he said.
TB was exported to the world by Western European traders and empire builders 200 years ago, when the pandemic was reported to be killing one in every four Europeans.
Subsequent concerted treatment campaigns saw a global decline in TB infections worldwide and its almost complete eradication from Europe, until the 1980s when multi-drug resistant strands emerged and saw dramatic outbreaks in central Africa and South Asia.
The resurgence prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a 'world emergency' in 1993.
WHO estimates that deaths from TB will increase from three million a year currently to five million by the year 2050.
- African Eye