Government’s DR-TB plan
According to head of the health department’s TB Control Programme there is a realisation that the number of hospitals beds dedicated to DR-TB are not sufficient leading to long waiting lists with patients dying while waiting to get a bed.
‘This of course also means that the patient continues to spread the DR-TB after being diagnosed,’ said Mvusi.
Mvusi confirmed that those patients who were not ill and sputum smear negative (up to one-third of DR-TB cases in SA) would be treated on an outpatient basis and be allowed to remain at home.
‘We have to acknowledge that not all clinics will be able to treat DR-TB patients so we need to phase this in,’ Mvusi cautioned.
She explained that the clinic sisters treating DR-TB patients at primary care level would monitor the patients closely for drug side effects and other problems.
A community health worker, reporting to the nurse, would visit the patients at home and monitor their progress.
Those patients who are still infectious would have their DR-TB initiated at an MDR-TB hospital or site, which would be close to the patients’ homes.
Mvusi said the goal was to have one such site in each district. The health department was in the process of setting up and staffing these sites with some already up and running.
Mvusi said that extensively-drug resistant patients would continue to be managed at central hospitals.
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