Dr Nerissa Pather dies of spinal drug-resistant tuberculosis after 8 years of paralysis: her death is directly due to government neglect: SouthAfrica medics, doctors are always at risk of contracting drug-resistant Tuberculosis because the regime often does not carry out barrier-nursing nor provide staff with enough safety-equipment.
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December 28 2014. The South African Medical Association is urging hospitals and clinics to ensure medical workers are provided with the N95 mask.
Durban - With the death of Dr Nerissa Pather from a drug-resistant strain of TB, many in the medical community are calling for more to be done to fight the disease and for safer working environments.
Dr Pather contracted multidrug-resistant TB in 2002 while completing her community service at a KwaMashu clinic in KwaZulu-Natal. Spinal TB paralysed her until her death.
The South African Medical Association (Sama) extended its “heartfelt condolences” to her husband and family.
“The loss of a doctor to a communicable disease contracted in the course of duty is an incalculable tragedy. We have seen this repeated many times in the Ebola viral disease outbreak. This time, however, it strikes far closer to home. TB continues to ravage our country and the risk to all healthcare workers remains,” said Dr Phophi Ramathuba, president of Sama.
The Sunday Tribune spoke to doctors working in public hospitals and found most believed the situation was dangerous. One, who has been serving at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital for the past year, believed the safety measures at public hospitals were insufficient and felt under threat. She asked not to be named as she is not authorised to speak to the press.
“One of my colleagues contracted TB a month ago as well. We are not safe. As much as our job is to save lives, we also need to be protected. Protocol is often not followed at public hospita, and this is a problem,” she said.
She said that she was always exposed to needles and the risk of contracting HIV because 80 percent of the patients she treated were HIV-positive.
“Sometimes we run out of safety equipment and have to make use of the little resources we have. This also puts us at risk. These types of incidents can be prevented if the correct measures are taken,” she said.
Another doctor working at Stanger Hospital, who also asked not to be named, agreed.
“It’s a tricky situation for doctors. We are caught between saving lives and protecting ourselves. We are exposed to all kinds of diseases.
“There was once a shortage of surgical gloves in my department. As ridiculous as it sounds, I had to wait for gloves to get to me and there was a patient desperately in need of my assistance. What do we do in a situation like this?” the doctor asked.
Dr Indira Govender, who has been serving in Sierra Leone in the fight against Ebola with MSF (Doctors Without Borders), described it as “tragic” that doctors and nurses in South Africa were being infected with TB through occupational exposure.
“The personal protective equipment is available and should be easily accessible in all health facilities. Infection control measures must be prioritised, especially in places with an excessive incidence of TB. There are many good examples of facility-based innovations in some provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape,” she said.
“TB and multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) tuberculosis can be cured and the course of infection is slow; yet the sad reality is that we are made aware of it only when a life is lost,” said Govender.
“Health-care workers on the front line in communities ravaged by TB every day quietly fight this battle along with their patients, and live with the fear of infection.
“As there is no consistent campaign aimed at eradicating TB, it continues to compromise the quality of life in our country,” said Govender.
The rest of the story is government propaganda:
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/we-are-always-at-risk-say-doctors-1.1799384
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/we-are-always-at-risk-say-doctors-1.1799384
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