When the Health Deputy Secretary visited Kikori in November 2015, he was confronted with a scene familiar from his many trips to Western Province: The majority of hospital beds were used by tuberculosis (TB) patients.
In Kikori hospital, there are two to three new cases of TB diagnosed daily. Dr Paison Dakulala expressed his great concern on the extent of the problem.
“We are all well aware of the TB challenges in Western Province and even the NCD, but Kikori appears to have similar issues with much less awareness and support,” said Dakulala.
At the moment, it is impossible to know the real burden of TB in Kikori. The hospital does not have the tools to undertake accurate surveillance, especially of multidrug-resistant TB – the type that is hard and expensive to treat.
Kikori hospital can only test their patients for TB and screen nearby communities by checking their sputum for the TB bacteria. Their results suggest that the rate of TB in Kikori has at least doubled over the last five years.
The most crucial challenge for the hospital is to keep people on medication for an extended period of time – which proves difficult. Many people do not know what TB is, how to prevent it, when to go to the hospital and the vital importance of finishing treatment to get better and avoid the development of multidrug-resistant TB.
There are currently fears that multidrug-resistant TB and even extensively drug-resistant TB are present in Kikori communities. However, machines to test and identify these types of extremely dangerous TB have not been available and are only just now being purchased with support from Oil Search.
In addition, just last year ten Kikori hospital staff contracted TB which prompted a massive effort to protect health workers from the disease. Now on high TB alert, the entire hospital staff wears protective masks and gear to prevent infection.
The National Department of Health has listened to the needs of Gulf Province, in particular Kikori district, and is seeking to engage the Oil Search Foundation in a Public-Private Partnership approach to battle the TB epidemic.
Dakulala emphasises the important role the private sector can play in responding to TB.
“They have the logistical means to reach hard-to-access communities and can mobilise their workforce to help,” he said.
File Picture.