OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday
THE government is investigating declaring a national emergency to fight Aids, which could speed up access to anti-Aids drugs as the government battles pharmaceutical giants over cheap medicines, the Sunday Times reports.
In the Pretoria High Court this week, the government faced 39 of the world’s biggest drug producers as they fought to protect drug patents that health officials said were stopping lifesaving drugs reaching the ill.
Health Department director general Ayanda Ntsaluba said the government was considering declaring a national emergency. He said this would be discussed in Parliament on Wednesday.
“The President’s legal team are looking at it and preparing themselves.”
The declaration of an emergency would allow the government to issue compulsory licences – as in Brazil – to local drug manufacturers authorising them to replicate patented anti-Aids drugs cheaply; import cheaper generic drugs; and copy the drugs without breaching international trade agreements because such a move would be accepted by the World Trade Organisation.
“It would have to come from the President and one would have to look at it carefully. It might not be as straightforward as just standing up and saying it’s a national emergency,” Ntsaluba said.
He said it was generally agreed that issuing compulsory licences would be much easier to justify “in an environment where a national emergency has been declared”, said the Sunday Times.
President Thabo Mbeki’s representative Bheki Khumalo confirmed that the President would address the issue in Parliament on Wednesday during question time.
“The President has taken a personal interest in this question of HIV/Aids, and we should not discount anything. We will have to wait and see what he will say on Wednesday,” Khumalo said.
According to The Sunday Times, Aids activists welcomed Ntsaluba’s comments but cautioned it might be a gambit by Pretoria to force the drug companies to lower their prices or face having their products copied.
The newspaper quoted the head of the Treatment Action Campaign, Zackie Achmat, as saying: “We hope this is not a bad chess game between the opposition, the drug companies and the government. It would be to the advantage of all people if the government did handle this as an emergency.”
Ellen ‘t Hoen, a campaigner with Mdecins Sans Frontires, said that by declaring an emergency South Africa would lead the world in the quest for better access to anti-Aids medicines. She said that at least two other countries were seriously considering issuing compulsory licences for cheap drugs.
But Mirryena Deeb, the chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association of South Africa, which is contesting the government in court, said there was no need to declare an emergency.
“If you declare a state of emergency then you can ignore your laws. Why are they so reluctant to use existing law? What are they so scared of?”
ZA*NOW:
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