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July
2004
NEWSFLASH
Some HIV-positive people who urgently need access to
drugs will have to wait until next year - by which time many of them
could be dead.
July
2004
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2004
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ImpActAIDS 2004.
This is an official ImpActAIDS newsletter.
 In this newsletter |
South Africa Monday 5th July ARV rollout a shambles, says report July 5, 2004
By Jillian Green
Some HIV-positive people in Gauteng who urgently need access to drugs will have to wait until next year - by which time many of them could be dead.
A preliminary report of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the Aids Law Project (ALP) - which was released at the TAC's People's Health Summit in East London at the weekend - says that Gauteng's provincial treatment plan indicates that 130 000 people require ARV treatment this year alone but "waiting lists are already running into 2005 at some sites".
This means that some patients run the risk of dying before they can even get an appointment at some of the accredited sites
'We're concerned about lack of commitment'
"The reasons for this are that not enough staff were appointed, patient numbers are greater at some sites because other sites have not speedily implemented their programmes, and because follow-up consultations and new patient consultations are scheduled on the same day," the report read.
The report is a retrospective on the first seven months since the government's national plan on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment was announced in November 2003.
The report focuses primarily on the numbers of people who have begun to receive ARV treatment and reports on the degree to which information about the plan and its implementation is being made available in all the provinces.
In Gauteng, five sites, most of which are in Johannesburg, have already begun implementing the ARV rollout with about 2 300 patients - 5% to 10% of which are children - receiving ARV treatment.
Seven other sites around the province have recently being accredited by the provincial health department.
In a breakdown of the five sites providing treatment, the report states that Helen Joseph Hospital is treating 264 adults, Chris Hani Baragwanath has about 400 adults and 120 children on the treatment, 500 patients, mostly adults are being treated at Johannesburg Hospital while Coronation Children's Hospital provides treatment for 75 children.
And while the report does not include figures for Kalafong Hospital The Star has ascertained that the hospital is treating a total of 177 patients, 34 of which are children. The plan aims to treat 10 000 patients by 2005.
But an attorney with the ALP, Fatima Hassen, said: "We are deeply concerned with the delays in the rollout and the lack of national commitment to provide treatment."
The report recommends that an emergency appointment plan is required in some provinces to increase the number of patients being treated.
Hassen added that if posts were filled quickly, the pace of providing treatment could be doubled giving more people access to treatment.
Gauteng health department spokesperson Popo Maja said it was not easy to fill posts in a short space of time. "Posts have to be advertised and candidates have to be interviewed. We need to appoint people who are qualified." he said.
But the authors of the report say that "failure to provide national leadership is widening the gap between resourced and under-resourced provinces".
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