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SA doctors have difficulty treating TB

It is still a leading cause of death in South Africa.
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Head of the MDR/XDR TB unit at Klerksdorp’s Tshepong hospital complex in North West says doctors in the country still have difficulty treating Tuberculosis.

MDR TB is multi drug resistant tuberculosis and XDR TB is extensively drug resistant tuberculosis.

Dr Hannetjie Ferreira is part of the national committee advising doctors on treating the disease that is still a leading cause of the death in South Africa.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks it among the top killer diseases globally.

Dr Ferreira’s unit has been successful in treating drug-resistant TB, with an 80% cure rate of Extreme Drug Resistant-TB in 2015.

She says most doctors don’t know about TB.

“It is strange that the one disease in this country that kills the most people, many doctors don’t even know about it. They don’t know how to manage it because it is supposed to be managed by the government sector.”

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