Issued by: Department of Health
14 August 1997
Nelspruit - Coordinator of the Belgium Funds, Dr Maegd is visiting South Africa to review the services provided with the R3 million committed by the Belgian Government to the National TB Control Programme. He is joined by the National TB Control Programme Manager, Dr Refiloe Matji and the National TB Laboratory Services Coordinator, Mr J Mokonoto who has been responsible for the distribution of these funds.
"We are pleased to present the new laboratory in Kwanyamazane Clinic," said Dr Matji this afternoon. "This is going to be a major breakthrough for TB Control in this area. We can now expect that TB patients in Kwanyamazane clinic can be diagnosed, treated and cured more quickly than ever before." Dr Matji added that "TB control efforts in Mpumalanga have been outstanding, the cure rates in this region have been getting better and better. However, with the arrival of the new equipment we can be sure that Mpumalanga is well on its way to increasing TB cure rates."
After a review of the TB Control programme by the World Health Organisation in June 1996, the programme declared war against TB and introduced a new strategy called DOTS, which stands for Directly Observed Treatment Short-course. This strategy has a number of components namely, ensuring that TB patients are directly observed by a supporter as they swallow their medication everyday for six months; using microscopes to ensure that TB isnosed in a reliable and least expensive way; training staff to detect Pulmonary TB correctly and ensuring that TB patients are received and treated well by health services.
"International and national experts agree that TB laboratory services needed major improvement, and the decision to direct the Belgian funds towards laboratories like the Kwanyamazane one, was based on these recommendations" said Mr Mokonoto.
Mr Bauer, the manager of the South African Institute for Medical Research in Mpumalanga said that "It is evident that, to effectively diagnose Pulmonary TB we need to have good quality microscopes. This was lacking in the old microscopes, the technicians could not easily identify TB bacilli thus causing major delays in producing patients results." In the light of this Dr Maegd had this to say, "We applaud what has been achieved here in Mpumalanga. Now that Kwanyamazane clinic has these microscopes. TB bacilli can be identified much easily, patients will not have to wait for long periods because specimens will be tested right here in the clinic. The clinic will be notified of the test results within 24 hours and patients can thus be treated immediately thereafter. It is encouraging to see that the National TB Control Programme has used the Belgian funds constructively and has brought these services closer to the people".
By strengthening TB laboratory services in South Africa the Belgium Government has indeed helped South Africa set up the foundations for implementing their new Tb Control strategy and to gain control of the biggest infectious killer in this country.
Note: Participant in this event at Kwanyamazane clinic in Nelspruit included the Belgium Funds Coordinator, Dr Maegd, Dr Refiloe Matji of the Department of Health and is manager of the National TB Control Programme, the National TB Laboratory Service Coordinator, Mr J Mokonoto and the manager of the South African Institute for Medical Research in the Mpumalanga region, Mr Keith Bauer.