Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the prevalence of TB on mines was seven times higher than among the general population and indications were that prisoners were increasingly getting the disease.
"The prevalence of the disease might even be higher than what we know it to be in the mines," he said, addressing inmates at Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town on Monday (25 March).
According to figures from the Department of Health, there were 153,481 inmates imprisoned between January and December last year. Of these, 6,650 prisoners had TB, equivalent to 4.3% of the prison population.
The highest prevalence of TB in jails was in the Western Cape, with 2,237 of the 26,195 prisoners (8.5%) either having contracted TB before being imprisoned or while in prison.
Correctional Services Minister Sbu Ndebele said it was well documented that, with the high levels of HIV, the threat of TB in prisons demanded attention.
Overcrowding did not help. Ndebele said as of March 1 this year, an additional 152,550 inmates were imprisoned in the country.
Each month about 23,000 people were released from prison but about 25,000 new inmates took their places.
It cost the taxpayer about R8,000 a month to keep each inmate inside the prison.
However, the government says it has a "plan".
Motsoaledi handed over six GeneXpert machines to the Department of Correctional Services to be used to test new inmates on their arrival at prison to establish if they are already infected. If they do not have the disease, they will be allowed to share facilities with other prisoners already serving time.
Inmates who are infected would immediately start the six-month treatment.
As part of the new TB management guidelines, the saliva of every prisoner suspected of having TB, will have to undergo oral testing twice a year.
One of the machines had been operating at Pollsmoor prison since the beginning of the month and Motsoaledi said of the 735 inmates who had arrived since the beginning of the month, 165 of them were tested on suspicion. Of these, 21 were diagnosed with the disease and started treatment immediately.
Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge
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