“We are happy to announce that we are the first province to successfully cure XDR TB. The national department of health‘s Communicable Disease Directorate only confirmed this at the beginning of March because the patient was still being monitored to make sure he does not lapse," said Lekgethwane.

Lekgethwane said the milestone was reached as a result of the XDR TB unit which was opened in 2010 in Klerksdorp's Tshepong Hospital Complex.

“Two more XDR TB patients were declared completely cured early this year resulting in a total of three completely cured XDR TB patients,” he said.

XDR TB is an infectious disease that continues to kill many people each year, particularly those who do not receive treatment on time. It is prevalent among people who are infected with both TB and HIV.

The North West government reported that it had improved its integrated care of patients co-infected with TB and HIV from 38% in 2009 to 83% in 2011.

“This is due to the HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign that started in April 2010,” said Lekgethwane.

He said since 2000, the province had recorded 63 cases of XDR and 1 604 cases of Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) TB.

“The province is now experiencing a drop of TB deaths from 8.2% in 2009 to 7.3% and an increase of healing in TB patients. The cure rate has improved from 40% to 67% in 2011, which is a (more) than 25% increase in the healing TB patients,” Lekgethwane said.

He added that though the province continues to do well, late reporting of patients to health facilities and patients who continue to default treatment remain a concern.

“Defaulter rate is a cause for concern since non-compliance to treatment is the major contributing factor to MDR TB and XDR TB. Treating MDR and XDR TB is very costly as compared to treating ordinary TB. This puts a huge strain on the department given the numerous and complex public health challenges it is facing,” he said.

Lekgethwane said through its campaigns, the provincial department continues teaching communities about TB and its treatment ahead of World TB Day that will be commemorated on 24 March.