The Eastern Cape Department of Health recently received two mobile digital chest X-ray units from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its funded non-governmental organisation, MatCH.
The mobile units will aid the provincial department’s endeavours to increase tuberculosis (TB) case findings.
The two vehicles are each equipped with a chest X-ray modality.
Each vehicle will be manned by MatCH staff, including a driver and a radiographer, who will be supported by medical officers and a radiologist.
“These two mobile X-ray units will assist us to ensure that we get to as many people as possible, particularly those in rural areas and townships, who might not know they have been infected with TB,” said Eastern Cape Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth.
“We want more people to get tested for TB and take treatment for the required months which may be six to 12 months or more, so that they can beat it.”
“We are grateful to our social partners because we would not have been able to deliver some services because of the serious budgetary constraints we have,” said Meth.
The teams manning the mobile units will be working closely with local health facilities for linking patients into treatment.
The vehicles will service various clinics within the Nelson Mandela and Sarah Baartman districts daily.
This is in addition to mobile vans that were placed in both OR Tambo and Buffalo City Metro districts in the second week of March 2022 by Equity Innovations.
The national Department of Health under the Global Fund plans to place more mobile vans in Amathole district under the TB HIV Care initiative.
The launch of the two units comes just days after World TB Day on 24 March, a day used to raise awareness about the chronic illness.
Symptoms consistent with TB infection include coughing, chest pains, unintentional weight loss, fatigue, fever, night sweats, and loss of appetite, among others.
However, one of the key findings of South Africa’s first National TB Prevalence Survey (2018) was that of the 234 people found to have TB, around 58% had abnormal chest X-rays without experiencing any TB symptoms.
The chest X-ray service forms part of the systematic screening of TB which includes TB symptom screening, history taking and chest X-ray.
