Lubango - The Lubango Sanatorium Hospital is facing difficulties in carrying out exams to determine patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, due to the lack of the GeneXpert MTB/RIF rapid molecular test.
The test simultaneously detects Mycobacterium tuberculosis and resistance to rifampicin (RIF) and is carried out directly on respiratory samples such as sputum and induced sputum, taking two hours.
In a statement to ANGOP on Monday, the director of that unit, Lourenço Kotele, highlighted that the health unit has such device, but in an obsolete state and in need of replacement.
“It’s not that we don’t have patients in these conditions, but we can not only classify multi-drug resistance without this test, hence the need to have this device in our unit, to give assertive answers to patients about their diagnosis”, he said.
According to the responsible, Lubango Sanatorium needs a different microbiology laboratory, to be able to look at the characteristics of antibiotic resistance to other diseases.
He explained that currently, if the patient has a persistent cough, the treatment is based on antibiotics, but if the symptoms continue, with a different laboratory, their blood would be collected for microbiology, which analyzes the type of bacteria.
Just like the infection you have, the type of agent and also the same microbiology laboratory can identify the causal agent and the antibiotic chosen as sensitive.
He explained that currently the hospital has three laboratories, one for dermatology and an equal number of equipped blood therapy laboratories, in the transfusion component and hematology and bacilloscopic.
The Lubango Sanatorium is a public hospital integrated into the National Health Service and provides medical and medication assistance to patients with diseases of a physiological nature, with respiratory symptoms.
This health unit has 207 employees, of which 12 are casual, with emphasis on 12 doctors from different specialties, 10 nurses, 58 nursing technicians, 34 diagnostic and therapeutic technicians, administrative staff and support people. BP/MS/TED/DOJ
