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Indonesia struggles to tackle drug-resistant tuberculosis
Treating drug-resistant tuberculosis takes longer and is more costly.
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Tuberculosis remains a major public health concern in WHO Southeast Asia member countries. (Kompas.com/File)
W
ith the rising threat of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), Indonesia, a country with third largest number of cases, is finding itself in a tough spot to combat the disease.
Despite the country having provided medication for all kinds of tuberculosis for free, many patients have their treatment cut halfway as they become resistant to the drugs and recovery becomes more problematic.
Treatment for DR-TB is more difficult than regular TB as it requires different drugs –which are more costly and have stronger side effects. The treatment also takes longer—the drugs must be taken for up to two years, compared to the six months in regular TB cases.
“According to the most recent data from the Health Ministry, it is predicted that we have around 12,000 DR-TB cases per year. But only around 8,800 could be diagnosed. And only 75 percent of the diagnosed patients are fully treated,” Erlina Burhan, a pulmonologist from Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
She said most of the DR-TB patients are TB patients who do not finish their six-month treatment or are not disciplined in taking their daily drugs during treatment. The TB bacteria get stronger and become resistant to the drugs.
DR-TB is the only airborne drug-resistant epidemic in the world and responsible for nearly one-third of all deaths from antimicrobial resistance globally. Indonesia is third with the most TB cases, after India and China.
Treating DR-TB is very costly. Erlina said a patient with regular TB has to spend around Rp 1.2 million (US$86.20) for medication until they are healed. DR-TB patients need more kinds of drugs - more expensive ones and also daily injections.
