It was more expensive for the government to let teachers with HIV/Aids die than to provide them with anti-retroviral drugs, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday.
The average cost of providing high quality triple therapy for the lifetime of an HIV-positive person was R160 000, DA Aids spokesperson Mike Waters said in a statement.
”The DA calculates that, on average, a teacher who retires on grounds of ill health and subsequently dies will receive a payout of R177 223,80, and a teacher who dies in service will receive a payout of R181,186.
”It becomes very clear then that the cost of providing anti-retroviral therapy vastly outweighs the benefits of ignoring the problem.”
Last month, Education Minister Kader Asmal said the Human Sciences Research Council, with help from teacher unions, was conducting a study for his department to determine the exact prevalence of HIV/Aids among teachers.
He said the Council of Education Ministers — comprising the minister and the nine provincial MECs — was not convinced by some of the ”alarmist” reports produced by various research agencies and non-governmental organisations on the prevalence of HIV/Aids among teachers.
However, Waters said a government report of 2001 showed that at least 70 000 teachers, or 18% of the total number, were infected with the disease.
”It makes no sense for the education department to duplicate work already done while teachers are dying…
”We don’t need another report to confirm what the level of HIV infection is amongst teachers — we already know. What the minister should be doing is ensuring that the government embarks upon a national roll-out of anti-retrovirals,” he said. – Sapa