My TB nightmare: I paid high price for skipping drugs

These restrictions affected people with various health conditions in the country including TB patients.

Apart from interruptions to hospital services, some health facilities were converted to Covid-19 isolation centres, making it harder for TB patients to access care. TB patients were also worried about contracting Covid-19 in hospitals, therefore they failed to collect their drugs.

And, because like TB coughing is one of the symptoms of Covid-19, patients stopped going to hospital for fear of stigma or being taken to Covid-19 isolation centres.

For some, the economic difficulties brought about by the pandemic made life harder. They could no longer afford food or fare to go to the hospital.

As a result, some patients had to start medication all over again. Worse still, some developed drug-resistant TB.