South Africa’s 500 000-strong mining workforce has the highest tuberculosis (TB) incidence in the world, with 2 500 to 3 000 cases for every 100 000 people, a recently released World Bank report indicates.

The report, titled ‘Addressing TB in the mines: a multisector approach’, states that the infection rate among South African mineworkers is ten times the emergency threshold set by the World Health Organisation.

Factors fuelling TB infection in the South African mining sector include HIV, which makes an individual more likely to contract TB; silicosis, owing to prolonged exposure to silica dust in mine shafts; poor access to health services, particularly among contract workers; accommodation in overcrowded hostels; and migration between communities and mine locations, which increases the risk of TB transmission and treatment interruption and failure.

Given increased pressure from government to root out not only TB but also other diseases, many mining houses are increasingly focusing more time and resources on disease control.

Diagnostic medical imaging solutions company IntriHEALTH says it can assist mining companies in their efforts to fight disease in the sector by archiving employee medical records through its medical image data technology.

It says that technology can significantly improve the general healthcare offered to mining employees. This is because, currently, a major challenge facing mining houses is how to ensure continuous availability of patients’ records – from the initial baseline image recorded during the employee’s first examination, right up to the latest X-ray image from the patient’s last visit.

“Mines’ occupational health practitioners are often frustrated at not having the full patient records available, thus having to request historical data from disparate backup solutions, which may take up to a week,” says IntriHEALTH CEO Mike Simpson.

He adds that, besides the obvious frustration experienced by the doctors, the impact on patient care can be affected while waiting for a diagnosis. IntriHEALTH alleviates this frustration by providing immediate access to each patient’s full historical image record through its image data technology.

“It is crucial for mining companies to capitalise on new technologies that will enable them to manage the challenge of keeping medical data,” Simpson points out.

Moreover, he explains that, with the use of the image data technology, data generated over 40 years in addition to all future documentation, can be kept. This improves organisational efficiency by increasing the speed at which medical practitioners access patient files.

Irrespective of how old the data is, the technology allows a full historical record to be available, which significantly improves patient care.

“For instance, if an employee has been working on the mine for 25 years and has had a vast number of medical reports done, the technology is able to archive all the data for further use.”

IntriHEALTH assists mining companies in managing the data and upon request, run the data for the mining company, which allows the information technology staff at the company to focus on other responsibilities apart from employee medical data.