Medical practitioners have expressed concern of the surging cases of drug resistance that are currently being witnessed in health facilities across the Country.
Caleb Kadima, a Dermatovenereology Officer at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) says drug resistance which is a condition where a certain disease becomes non-responsive to medication was dealing a blow to the treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI’s).
Kadima said that among the ailments that have been spotted to have exhibited the trend at JOOTRH are Syphilis,Cervicitis, gonorrhea, Vaginitis, Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases (PID’s) and HIV/AIDS.
The cause of this menace, the Medic said was that once a patient was diagnosed with either of the conditions and they were supplied with medication, most of them never completed their doses once they saw slight improvement in their health.
“Some even skip taking medication for days or weeks before they embarked to taking them again. This practice greatly attracts drug resistance,” explained Kadima.
Self medication by purchasing un-prescribed drugs to treat STI’s, Kadima revealed was another cause of the medical condition.
He pointed out that most men than women have been identified to be in the habit of purchasing over the counter drugs after doing a self examination and discovered that they were suffering from a certain disease.
“It is very hard for most men to seek proper medical attention in health facilities unless the ailment is so severe and thus bedridden. Females are better hospital attendees’ than men,” states Kadima.
He also brings to the fore that stigma is another cause of drug resistance as patients and especially those diagnosed with STI’s fear seeking medication in hospitals as they think they will be victimized.
To deal with this Drug Resistance, the Medical practitioner says the patients who already have it have to be treated with a more expensive medication which most families may not be able to afford.
He therefore advices families to encourage those who are under medication to take them religiously and also avoid stigmatizing those already diagnosed with the STI’s as this will make them hide while taking medication or not take them at all.
“It however important for sexually active population to stick to proper condom use as this will keep most STI’s at bay,” states Kadima.
Subsequently he wants members of the public from doing self medical examination and thereafter prescribing for themselves medication which they purchase from pharmacies.
“Treating a disease with a wrong drug also leads to drug resistance,” discloses the medic.