Patients Charter for TB Care
I'm over-joyed to see all these posts expressing interest in addressing rights issues and improving care for DR-TB patients. Yes yes yes, I agree. I know firsthand that this is very needed and very overdue. Reading the comments that call for the Patients' Charter to be better promoted and implemented is uplifting, as I have often thought that the PCTC could be a powerful organizing tool for patients and many progressive partners, driven forward dynamically with a planned roll-out adequately funded. Shamefully, this has not happened, and all of us who had contributed to the original are deeply dismayed by the lack of progress. However, when I read all these comments of the last few days, I'm excited again, and an old expression comes to mind which sums-up my feelings : " Don't Moan, Organize !! "
Instead of just citing examples of rights abuses, dignity denied, and casting blame on vague faceless authorities at the top, we should collectively work pragmatically to develop a practical model for the promotion of the Patients' Charter in MDR treatment centers. Although many of the comrade's comments highlight the need for PCTC promotion across all TB programs, I think we could, and should, first strive to have a ground-breaking impact specifically on MDR and XDR programs — exactly where Rights are most commonly denied and death the most likely outcome. Together, we might be able to organize change.
