As many as about 60 percent of patients started on treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) will not be cured. With odds already stacked against them, Eastern Cape MDR-TB patients face a long and costly journey for treatment. MDR-TB is resistant to both of the most commonly used TB treatments and takes about two years to treat. Only about 60 percent of MDR-TB patients will be cured, according to 2010 figures cited by Director of the Department of Health’s DR-TB, TB and HIV division Dr Norbert Ndjeka in 2014. With just 2,500 hospital beds available for MDR-TB patients, the Department of Health began decentralising treatment out of specialised hospitals and into health facilities closer to patients in 2011.