TB Patients In Kabarole Default On Treatment

http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=55114

Many Tuberculosis patients in Kabarole district don’t complete the prescribed treatment, which is affecting the management and treatment of the disease.

At the TB clinic at Fort Portal Referral Hospital, records show that 300 patients have defaulted on treatment in the past two months, despite the availability of drugs. The TB clinic treats patients from Kabarole, Kyejonjo, Bundibugyo, Ntoroko and Kamwenge and receives more than 60 patients every month.

Dr. Steven Musinguzi, the in-charge of the TB clinic says some of the patients default for two or even four months.

He says that by defaulting on treatment the patients require the second line of treatment. Dr. Musinguzi also says that during the second line of treatment, the patient has to receive injections for two months and be hospitalized for the same period, which is costly.

Musinguzi further says that patients who don’t complete their treatment run a risk of failing to respond to the second line of treatment.

//Cue in: “The major challenge…
Cue out:…failure to respond.”//

Musinguzi cites stigma as one of the major reasons why patients default on treatment.  He notes that 15 of the patients who returned for treatment last week said that they fear to be mistaken to be HIV/AIDS patients.

//Cue in: “Stigma of patients…
Cue out:…at a high rate.”//

However, some of the patients who spoke to URN attributed the default rate to lack of TB drugs in some major health centres.

Beatrice Kamakune, a resident of Kabale village in Kibiito Sub County, says she was used to taking multiple pills on a daily basis, but she failed to complete her treatment because Kibiito health centre IV ran out of the drugs. Kamakune says she spent two months without taking the drugs until her condition worsened and she was admitted to the TB clinic.

 She says she was earlier on reluctant to go to the TB clinic because she couldn’t afford transport, since she is unemployed.

Dr. Henry Mugasa, the Kabarole district TB focal Person, says his office is liaising with the district health department to avail drugs in all health centres in the district and reduce on the burden of patients moving long distances to Fort Portal Referral hospital. He however says that some patients intentionally miss treatment even when the drugs are available. He says they are sensitizing patients on the risks of discontinuing treatment.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), defaulting on TB treatment causes higher rates of relapse and retreatment and increased treatment expenses. WHO ranks Uganda among countries with a high TB incidence, currently estimated at 40 out of every 100,000 people.