Since 2002, Merlin-supported TB outreach teams have provided home-based treatment, monitoring and care to people living in the Shida Kartli region, Southern Georgia. Health worker Ket describes a day on the road as part of the TB outreach team.
My name is Ket, and I have been working for Gori TB Dispensary in southern Georgia for more than 12 years. During this time I have witnessed a lot of changes in my country. Unfortunately, when it comes to fighting tuberculosis (TB), the age-old stigma that TB is a disease of poverty still applies. Many people are too ashamed to seek treatment, so a large part of my job involves tracking down people who have stopped attending clinics and accepting treatment.
It is 10 a.m. and I am sitting in a Merlin car, heading away from Gori Town towards our first appointment. My first patient, Kakabedze, lives 23 km away from the dispensary. He has not come for his check-up since receiving an intensive phase of treatment. His house is almost in ruins and an old bed sits outside in the yard. I ask Kakabedze why he has stopped coming to the clinic: “I would come if I could afford to get there,” he says. This is the most common reason given by patients who do not attend the clinic. I give him a ticket bought by Merlin for transport to the centre, and he promises to come back for more treatment.
Next I visit the Ichkiti family to provide the give follow up treatment to the son, who was diagnosed with TB. I come across Mr Ichkiti : “My son died a month ago,” he said, fighting back the tears. It turned out that, deciding he felt better his son had gone to Russia in search of work, where his health rapidly declined. He returned only “skin and bones,” according to his father.
I then visit the Sakuashvili’s, who have 10 children. The family lives and sleeps in one tiny room, 4m x 5m, which has six beds. Although Mr Sakuashvili has been coughing for a long time, he has refused see a doctor believing that, if diagnosed positive with TB, he would be unable to hug his children. His failure to seek medical care was affecting the health of the family; three of his children had been diagnosed with TB, and we suspected two more to be infected.
We provide the family with bus tickets to the clinic and Mrs Sakuashvili promises to convince her husband to visit us. I go home and prepare for our visits the next day.
I could not believe my eyes when Mr and Mrs Sakuashvili walked into the surgery, with their 10 children in tow, the following day!
Merlin’s programmes aim to encourage communities to help support each other and to increase TB awareness and education. This way, we hope to reduce the stigma attached to TB so that more people seek help. The ‘outreach’ support that Merlin provides is crucial to hearing more “success stories” like that of the Sakuashvilis.