ONE in 10 tuberculosis (TB) patients die in Bulawayo, a figure which the city council says is too high and a cause for concern.
Pamela Mhlanga, Own Correspondent Addressing stakeholders during the Bulawayo World TB Day at the Barbourfields Training Grounds on Friday, the city council’s director of Health Services, Zanele Hwalima, said there was a constant need to create TB awareness in the province as it also contributed to several deaths.
“In 2011, 84% of our patients were treated successfully for TB, but there is always a need to reach the national target of 87%. So the 10% death rate in the city is disappointing,” she said.
Hwalima said it was disappointing that a number of people in the city were still succumbing to TB, which had led to the 10% death rate and the 2% rate of TB treatment failure in patients.
She, however, said there was hope as the 10% rate was a reduction from 13% death rate that was recorded in 2008.
Speaking during the same event, the Bulawayo provincial education director Dan Moyo said TB was a major health issue in Bulawayo city clinics, but despite all efforts to ensure patients completed their course of treatment, there has been the emergence of drug resistant TB that was extremely difficult and costly to treat.
“Drug resistant TB is the presence of bacilli resistant to one or more anti-Tuberculosis drugs and includes multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB,” he said.
“Drug-resistant TB is extremely difficult and costly to treat. The costs of treating MDR-TB can be several hundred times higher than costs for treating drug-susceptible TB.”
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Moyo said although the cure of DR-TB was possible, it took 24 months of treatment with toxic drugs, some of which needed to be administered by injection.
“It is, therefore, important to ensure that all patients are diagnosed early and adhere to treatment the first time they are diagnosed with TB, to prevent development of DR-TB,” he added.
