Johannesburg - The North West province has seen a 20-percent improvement in the number of tuberculosis patients cured in the past four years, the North West provincial government said on Sunday.
“The tuberculosis treatment outcome improved from 40.3 percent in 2009 to 69.8 percent in 2012,” Premier Thandi Modise said in a statement, discussing the percentage of patients cured of TB.
She said that in Klerksdorp's Tshepong Hospital the first Extreme Drug Resistant TB patient in the country had been cured.
“The number of patients defaulting on their TB treatment has seen a sharp decrease from 10.8 percent to 7.8 percent.”
She also said that the annual HIV prevalence survey among pregnant women showed a slight decline in the province, from 30 percent to 29.6 percent, in the years 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Modise said extensions to Mmabatho and Excelsius nursing colleges were under way.
“The planning of Moses Kotane, Potchefstroom, Lichtenburg and Taung nursing schools are at an advanced stages.”
The province had also sourced funds to construct 10 community health centres.
A total of R478-million has been set aside for the construction of a new psychiatric hospital in Mahikeng and the project was expected to be completed in the next 24 months. - Sapa