Christof Maletsky
31 July 2008
GOVERNMENT is working on a bill that will provide for the isolation of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) patients until they are cured.
Health Minister Dr Richard Kamwi told The Namibian this week that several other countries facing similar challenges posed by the XDR-TB had taken the same route to eliminate the deadly disease.
It is not yet clear when the bill will be ready for tabling in Parliament.
Detaining XDR-TB patients has become a hot issue in the southern African region, with the main question being to what extent hospitals can or should isolate XDR TB patients against their will or force them to take medicine.
In South Africa the Cape High Court has authorised the isolation of XDR-TB patients to protect the health of the public.
The court found that the isolation of patients with infectious diseases such as XDR-TB was universally recognised in democratic societies and that isolation was justified to protect the public, even though it intruded on the privacy of those involved.
Two months ago Kamwi announced that eight cases of XDR-TB were being treated in Namibia.
However, they had to wait for more than a month before all the necessary drugs arrived from India.
Kamwi said all eight individuals remained in isolation as the Ministry tried to curb the deadly disease.
Five women and three men between the ages of 29 and 45 have been isolated at Oshakati (2), Walvis Bay (2), Katima Mulilo (1), Okahao (1), Onandjokwe (1) and Outapi (1).
XDR-TB is a severe form of tuberculosis and must be treated in a hospital in order to carefully monitor treatment and ensure that the highly resistant strain does not spread to other people.
Kamwi said the Ministry was busy with renovations and alterations at various health facilities like the Oshakati State Hospital to meet international standards for patient isolation and infection control.
XDR is the worst form of TB and has seriously limited treatment options and chances of cure.
TB can usually be treated with a course of four standard, or first-line, anti-TB drugs.
However, if the drugs are misused or mismanaged, multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) develops and later progresses to extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).
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