Free State Aids drug rollout begins
Thabo Mokgola
6 May 2004
The Free State provincial government has begun implementing its programme for the comprehensive care and treatment of patients with HIV/Aids.
The provincial health department said the first sites to begin rolling out public antiretroviral (ARV) treatment were the Bongani Regional Hospital in Welkom and three clinics, in Matjhabeng, Welkom and Phomolong.
Sixty-one officials involved with the programme went through two weeks of intensive training to prepare for the rollout.
"The training programme consisted of issues on patient flow, the use of anti-retrovirals and their side-effects, barriers and solutions", the department said, adding that doctors, social workers, pharmacists, professional nurses and support staff attended the programme.
The ARV drugs, said the department, have been ordered and would be available at the end of May to treat the first patient by the middle of June.
The process of monitoring the patients'
conditions will be managed in six stages. Week 1 will entail VCCT and CD4 counts, blood results will be obtained in the second week, the third week will be used for assessment by a doctor, and the drug readiness programme will follow between the fourth and sixth weeks.
In the seventh week, patients will start taking ARV medicines, and from the eighth week will be followed up regularly, at the assessment site and the treatment site, for support.
The department said the Motheo ARV site would go live in June, followed by the Thabo Mafutsanyane site in July, and the Xhariep and Northern Free State sites in August.
Patients who are interested in the programme can visit their local primary health care clinics and undergo voluntary counselling and testing.
Source: BuaNews
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