![]() The authorities should insist that samples are handed in to clinics under supervision." Heinrich added: "There is so much unemployment, especially in that area of the Western Cape, that if there's a chance to make money, people will jump at it. Poverty, malnutrition, HIV and cramped conditions in townships such as Khayelitsha, one of the biggest in the country, help the infectious disease to thrive. ![]() South Africa has one of the highest TB rates in the world with around half a million new cases each year, resulting in 78,000 related deaths. People are supposed to produce their sputum under supervision, but I'm sure when the clinics get busy, that doesn't happen." He added: "They go to the clinics and get treated as TB patients. Instead of handing their own sputum in, they buy it from people who have TB-positive sputum." People are trying to get a grant by pretending to be TB positive. John Heinrich, chief executive of the SA National Tuberculosis Association, said: "It is definitely happening. But he said business was "not good" because so many people were infected with TB in the township that he had a lot of competition. The paper said that buyers of the samples were then able to get a card from a clinic indicating they have TB and use this to fraudulently obtain a temporary disability grant of R1,010 per month from the department of social development.Ī 54-year-old man told a reporter that he makes an average of R500 per month from selling his saliva to people seeking to trick their way on to the benefits system. An investigation by the West Cape News identified people with TB charging R50-100 (£4.10-£8.20) for saliva samples contained in bottles stolen from health clinics.
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