Doctor: Patient supervision vital in achieving treatment

 By ELIZABETH MIAE

PATIENT supervision is vital in achieving completion of treatment for TB (tuberculosis) patients, TB specialist Dr Joseph Bana-Koiri said during the World TB Day commemoration last Friday.

Bana-Koiri pointed out that the TB situation in PNG, such as the multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), was man-made because of the failure by patients, health workers and the health system. 

“The cure is not with the drugs, it’s you and me and what we do in the community,” he told a gathering at the Port Moresby General Hospital.

“If every patient was supervised in the first place there will be no room for MDR-TB so we need to fix this up.”

Bana-Koiri gave an example of community support towards treatment adherence and patient supervision in Western. 

He said the TB situation in the province had been corrected because of the commitment showed by retired nurses who had volunteered to be treatment partners for the patients. 

He said the treatment partners were paid K100 monthly by the provincial government. 

Bana-Koiri said Japan once experienced TB as a public health problem after World War II but they implemented the direct observed treatment short- course (DOTS) strategy and eradicated MDR-TB.

He said one of the strategies the Japanese used was the establishment of associations by patients and through those groups they created awareness and generated interest for their target groups. 

Bana-Koiri pointed out that National Capital District had the highest number of TB cases (5,399 cases: National tuberculosis programme 2012 programme summary).

“We have a lot of people concentrated in one small area and most TB cases come from settlements but TB is not only for the poor.”

He added that a survey on MDR-TB was being carried out in four provinces, including NCD, and would be completed at the end of this year. 

“Every death from TB is preventable. Nobody should die from TB,” Bana-Koiri said.