By Friday of last week, 49 patients of Jose Pearson hospital in South Africa escaped medical confinement to spend Christmas with their families. But the problem is that these patients have extremely drug resistant tuberculosis, and had been kept in captivity for the "public good."

Twenty-six individuals returned to the hospital on their own steam, probably knowing the danger they were putting their families in. Authorities are about to conduct door-to-door searches in order to round up the remaining 23 at large. Tensions were building as the patients complained about wanting to see their family for this time of year. Holding someone this way flies in the face of most ethical practices, but provinces have had to take legal action to force them into confinement.

Those people who were less infectious got to spend some of the holiday at home, but only under strict supervision. The others were not so lucky. It must be hard to cope with such a condition, being kept like a prisoner in a hospital. Was the government right for holding these people against their will? Or was it a necessary action for the public good? Let's just hope things get resolved quickly and safely without much confrontation.