A decision will be made ”soon” to roll out a national antiretroviral (ARV) treatment plan for people with HIV/Aids, Western Cape health member of the executive committee (MEC) Piet Meyer said on Wednesday.
Delivering his budget speech in the provincial legislature, he said the Western Cape had led the way in treating HIV/Aids, with a programme that included ARVs.
”When, and I am confident it will be soon, the decision is made to roll out such treatment programmes, the Western Cape will again be well placed to take the lead,” he said.
Aids activists are currently pressuring government to release the findings of a joint treasury and national health department task team on the costing of an ARV treatment plan.
The team has reportedly concluded that providing the drugs is in fact the most cost-effective way of combating the pandemic.
Government says however the document must first be considered by Cabinet.
Meyer also called for an urgent national debate on the minimum acceptable level of health funding.
”I have to say that the resources available to the health sector in South Africa, and in particular the Western Cape, are not sufficient to meet the legitimate expectations of the population of the province,” he said.
This despite the fact that the Western Cape allocated more to health per capita than most other provinces.
He said the province’s health budget for the coming year was R4,29-billion, which made up 26,2% of total provincial spending.
Of the R4,29-billion, R1,47-billion came in the form of conditional grants from central government.
Total HIV/Aids spending would rise from R54,8-million in the current year to R66,8-million in 2004/05. – Sapa