‘TB Angels’ perform a labour of love
Working in pairs, the unemployed women use public transport, or get to their patients on foot.
Women volunteers in Bethal in Mpumalanga start their day at Sead Clinic, September 2019. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
A host of volunteer angels have become the backbone of chronic diseases and tuberculosis (TB) treatment in Mpumalanga, criss-crossing Bethal in Gert Sibande district and surrounding areas doing TB screening and ensuring patients stick to treatment regimes.
The group of 20 volunteers, who are women between the ages of 21 and 50, led by a feisty 49-year-old mother of four, Rose Motaung, pride themselves on being of service, despite a lack of funding and resources.
Motaung and her good Samaritans intervene in scenarios such as these: an elderly man or woman has hypertension or sugar diabetes and can’t fetch their life-saving medication, or a father has been coughing and sweating at night for two weeks but will not go to the clinic to have a check-up.
Members of the group scan the Sead Clinic register to identify who has not collected their medication and then conduct a home visit to establish what the problem is. They then take over the collection and delivery of medication if the person is unable to do it themselves.
The volunteers are divided into two groups; 10 focus on chronic patients and the other 10 specialise in TB patients. Their day starts at 7am when they report to a gazebo pitched on the lawn of the Sead Clinic in Bethal.
This is their meeting space, whatever the weather may be. Working in pairs, the unemployed women use public transport, or get to their patients on foot.
Motaung said that among the 200 TB screenings they do every day, they find at least four suspected cases and then collect sputum samples. They also trace defaulting TB patients to ensure they have medication and are taking it appropriately.
“Tuberculosis patients who do not complete treatment risk developing the multidrug-resistant strain,” Motaung added. “We also report to the clinic when we pick up something like a sore, unexplained weight loss or patients not eating well so an ambulance can get to them.”
The women also work with the relatives of patients unable to do anything for themselves to ensure they have food and a clean environment.
Gert Sibande district was one of the 11 pilot sites for the National Health Insurance scheme.
– siphom@citizen.co.za
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