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Aids treatment sites increased
Veronica Mohapeloa
16 April 2004
The government has so far accredited 27 public healthcare sites to provide antiretrovirals (ARVs) to people living with Aids in the country.
The Department of Health said accreditation teams had visited health facilities in various provinces for the second time as part of the accreditation process.
Health Department spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said, however, that the process was revealing "major" gaps in the country's national health system.
"The department is concerned about the state of readiness of the service sites and the need to ensure that training on the comprehensive plan is done in line with the recently approved national treatment protocol and guidelines.
"Therefore we are making every effort to address these deficiencies and to strengthen the national health system as a whole," Mngadi said.
Those facilities that had met the basic requirements for accreditation to provide the interventions listed in the comprehensive
plan would begin admitting patients, testing patients for HIV and fitness, and performing laboratory tests such as CD4 counts and viral load, to assess the clinical stage and establish the progression of the disease.
They would also provide interventions to delay the progression of the disease, including nutritional supplements, complementary and traditional medicines, and improved step-down referral facilities.
The facilities will also ensure that patients who qualify and prefer antiretroviral therapy are prepared for treatment, which means undergoing a treatment literacy programme to ensure that when they commence treatment, they adhere to the treatment requirements.
Facilities accredited so far include:
- Bongani hospital in the Free State.
- Kalafong, Helen Joseph, Coronation, Johannesburg and Chris Hani Baragwanath hospitals in Gauteng.
- King Edward VIII, Addington Mahatma Gandhi, Church of Scotland, Ngwelezane, Stanger, Benedictine and Kokstad
(EG Usher) hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Mapulaneng, Mokopane, Tshilidzini, St Rita, Mankweng and Letaba hospitals in Limpopo.
- Themba, Shongwe, Philadelphia, Witbank, Bethal and Evander hospitals in Mpumalanga.
- Kimberly hospital in the Northern Cape.
Sibani said the accreditation process was still under way, with sites in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape to be visited in April.
Source: BuaNews
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