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 We were asked to help Komang as she was very ill and three of her siblings and her grandfather had died of TB and it was felt in the high mountain village that her chances of survival were not good.
We found that Komang had been diagnosed with TB 2 years previously and was given treatment that should have been continued for six months or more, unfortunately after a month of taking the treatment, her mother thought she was so much better that she would not need to continue going to the doctor so the treatment was stopped, this is very common with people who have TB after a few weeks they feel so much better they feel great so don’t think they are ill anymore, this is a difficult situation for the doctor who probably has no way to find them as they live in very hard to access areas of the mountain so he would not know how to find them even if he had the time to go looking, and by the time the person with TB realises how ill they are its too late to continue the same treatment, as the TB becomes stronger and resistant to the normal treatment.
Now it needs a different more expensive type of medicine
We took Komang to Sanglah hospital to get tested to find out the extent of her illness and it was found that she also had an enlarged heart.
 Komang was admitted for a while to get her stabilised on a more expensive form of medication after a month she was able to leave hospital and live at the house visiting the Doctor as an outpatient every two weeks for the following nine months.
Komang’s two brothers were also found to have TB but by this time her mother had learnt they were both put in Sanglah and mother kept them on treatment till all clear given by Doctor.
They are all back in village now Komang has still got an oversized heart but at least she no longer has TB.
Komang’s treatment was sponsored by Southern Cross Bali Association Inc. of Australia.
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