Gauteng Aids drug rollout begins
Bontle Moeng
17 March 2004
Four Johannesburg hospitals will be among the first public hospitals in South Africa to provide anti-retroviral treatment as part of a national programme to provide medication to people with HIV/Aids.
The Gauteng government announced this week that its programme to supply anti-retroviral medication at major public health facilities would begin on 1 April.
Gauteng is the second province to announce the rollout of anti-retrovirals, after the Western Cape, following the cabinet's approval last November of the national plan for the comprehensive care, management and treatment of people with HIV/Aids.
According to the plan, every health district in the country will have at least one HIV/Aids service point by the end of the year.
An amount of R95-million has been allocated to Gauteng to implement the programme - R50-million from the national coffers and R45-million from a provincial grant.
Anti-retroviral treatment will be given
to those patients who meet specific clinical criteria, said Gauteng health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa. The treatment programme "will prioritise the poor and the vulnerable, those who are not on medical aid and who can't afford to pay for treatment", she added.
Gauteng's programme will be implemented in several phases, the first phase including the Johannesburg, Chris Hani Baragwanath, Helen Joseph and Coronation hospitals, as well as Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria.
The second phase will include the George Mukhari Hospital, the Pretoria Academic Hospital, Natalspruit Hospital, Leratong Hospital, and the Far East Rand and Kopanong hospitals.
The third phase will include Hillbrow Hospital, Tembisa Hospital, Sebokeng Hospital and the Lilian Ngoyi community health centre. The fourth phase will target the community health centres in Zola, Soshanguve, Daveyton, Laudium, Khutsong and Empilisweni.
Twenty-three service points will be established in Gauteng where health
professionals will be recruited and trained on the national care plan.
"Our primary challenge is to ensure that the 40 million South Africans who are not infected with HIV stay that way", Ramokgopa said, "and that those who are infected but have not as yet progressed to an advanced stage of Aids can lead a normal life through proper nutrition, healthy lifestyles and treatment of opportunistic infections."
Source: City of Johannesburg website
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