THE country’s seven African National Congress-led provinces were
on Wednesday gearing themselves to start providing the anti-Aids
drug nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women at state facilities.
A circular giving public hospitals and clinics the go-ahead to
prescribe the drug was being sent out by provincial health
authorities to all medical superintendents.
This was in compliance with a Constitutional Court order that
nevirapine be provisionally provided by all public health
facilities with the capacity to do so.
In terms of the court order, ”capacity” should be understood to
mean that before providing the drug, hospitals and clinics should
at least be able to counsel and test their patients.
In Gauteng, it appeared that all state hospitals and most of the
larger clinics would be able to issue prescriptions for the drug,
representative Popo Maja said.
The circular should have reached hospitals and clinics in the
province by the end of the week.
Women who needed nevirapine could start approaching public
hospitals and clinics immediately, but the process of giving them
the drug could take several weeks.
The women would first have to be counselled, after which their
doctors had to order the drug from the province, Maja said.
He added the province had a central store of nevirapine, and
there should be no delays in the process of delivering the drug to
hospitals.
In Mpumalanga, a task team had been set up to evaluate which
hospitals had the capacity to provide nevirapine, and how much of
the drug had to be ordered for the provincial depot.
This process would be conducted in liaison with hospital
superintendents, and should be completed by Friday, provincial
representative Dumisani Mlangeni said.
The province expected to make an announcement on Monday as to
which facilities could distribute the drug.
Mpumalanga had 27 hospitals and about 350 clinics.
The Free State said it was busy issuing the circular to
hospitals and clinics, and a process was underway to evaluate the
”practical implications” of the court order.
Northern Province health authorities were on Wednesday engaged
in a meeting to determine the province’s readiness to comply with
the judgment, while the North-West said it was busy ascertaining
which facilities could issue the drug.
The Eastern Cape health department said it would issue a
statement on the matter on Thursday. The Northern Cape could not be
reached for comment.
The circular being distributed to hospitals and clinics outlines
the circumstances in which nevirapine can be prescribed, the
required doses, and topics for patient counselling.
The Constitutional Court on April 4 refused the government leave
to appeal against a Pretoria High Court execution order demanding
that it provide nevirapine at State institutions with the capacity
to do so.
The high court order was made pending the outcome of a further
Constitutional Court hearing in May of the government’s main appeal
against a ruling that it put in place a plan to make nevirapine
freely available.
Prior to the court orders, the government distributed nevirapine
exclusively at 18 pilot sites countrywide.
The judgment did not apply to the Western Cape and
KwaZulu-Natal, which had their own nevirapine programmes in place.
The United Democratic Movement and the Congress of SA Trade
Unions on Wednesday welcomed government’s adherence to the court
order.
It was, however, long overdue, UDM president Bantu Holomisa said
in a statement.
”That it takes government court case after court case and
another two weeks to draft a circular is a perfect illustration of
their unwillingness and intransigence when it comes to treating
HIV/Aids.”
The party urged doctors to demonstrate that they had the
capacity and the commitment to save lives.
”This will once and for all prove that government’s arguments
about a lack of capacity to treat HIV/Aids is a convenient lie to
dodge responsibility and protect the president from embarrassment.
His ego must no longer weigh heavier than the lives of thousands of
babies.”
Cosatu described the move as a victory for logic.
”It will save
the lives of hundreds of babies who would otherwise have been born
HIV-positive.”
The labour federation urged the government to continue with the
programme regardless of the outcome of its Constitutional Court
appeal in May. – Sapa