Volunteers required to monitor TB patients

Volunteers required to monitor TB patients

Leony Aurora, Jakarta

Novita Dewi, 23, remembered a neighbor who lived in a house
behind hers in Bandung, who had "this coughing fit every morning,
sometimes so hard that he couldn't breathe".

Later, she heard from other neighbors that the man, who was in
his 60s, had tuberculosis (TB).

With this in mind, Novita recently signed up as a volunteer at
a stand in Mal Taman Anggrek, West Jakarta, set up by Hope
Worldwide Indonesia, a health and education non-governmental
organization (NGO).

"I will be a monitoring agent and also a guardian angel,"
Novita told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. "I don't know much
about TB, but they (Hope) will provide the training."

A monitoring agent is an individual who makes sure that TB
patients take their daily medication regularly for six months,
while a guardian angel provides a monthly donation of Rp 50,000
(US$5.60) to cover a TB patient's medical expenses.

TB eradication program manager Gerung Karundeng told the Post
this was Hope Worldwide's first attempt to train and appoint
volunteers who were not health workers or direct relatives of TB
patients.

"Some patients, like those from outside Jakarta, are without
family. Some others need extra supervision from outside the
family. If the patient is the head of a household, it's usually
difficult for his children to do the monitoring," he said.

Monitoring agents have a vital role in the implementation of
Direct Observed Treatment, Short Course, or DOTS, a method
adopted by Indonesia to counter TB. They are the frontline who
ensure the program's success, as patients often stop taking
medication a few weeks into the treatment, because they feel
better.

An unfinished prescription leads to the Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, which causes TB, to develop an immunity to the
medication and to a recurrence of TB in patients.

Karundeng said since the TB-causing bacteria was an airborne
contagium, supervisors were instructed to wear masks during house
visits.

"Few do so, however, because they don't want to embarrass the
family they visit," he said.

"One precaution is that volunteers must not visit patients
when they are not feeling well," said Karundeng, "because TB
infections occur when a person's immune system is weak."

Each year, about 583,000 people in Indonesia contract TB
infections, in addition to the 981,000 patients receiving
treatment. Indonesia has the third highest number of TB cases in
the world, with a national case detection rate of 41.3 percent in
2003.

Hope volunteer Slamet Simamora said most visitors were shocked
upon learning these figures. "Most also want to know about the
symptoms and its modes of transmission."

Since Hope's "Adopt a Lung" stand opened on June 27, nine
volunteers have signed up, most of whom have opted to become
guardian angels. The stand will be open until Aug. 25.

"The Ministry of Health provides medication for adult patients
according to our needs," said Karundeng, adding that 4,460 people
in Jakarta alone had received free treatment last year.

However, more funds are needed to provide free sputum smear
microscopy, free medication for children and X-rays.

Hope Worldwide has a clinic on Jl. Walang Baru V No. 13,
Plumpang, North Jakarta, and offers TB treatment and counseling
services. For more information: Tel (021) 43909454 and website:
www.id.HOPEww.org.

The Organization for Eradication of Tuberculosis (PPTI) also
operates three clinics offering similar services: Jl. Baladewa
34, Central Jakarta, tel (021) 4241488; Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda
66A, South Jakarta; and Jl. Dermaga I, Muara Angke, North
Jakarta.