Twenty-seven facilities had met the basic requirements for accreditation to provide quality care for Aids patients, the national Department of Health announced on Wednesday.
A plan for the management, care and treatment of HIV/Aids would be implemented at facilities in Gauteng, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, said departmental spokesperson Sibani Mngadi.
He said the 27 facilities would begin admitting patients and performing HIV testing and medical examinations.
Accreditation teams from the department visited health facilities in various provinces for the second time as part of an accreditation process.
”In line with our undertaking to update the public on every step in the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan, we are today (Wednesday) able to announce some of the facilities that have been accredited,” Mngadi said.
The facilities would also perform laboratory tests to assess the clinical stage and progression of the disease.
Mngadi said the plan would provide interventions that delayed the progression of the disease, including nutritional and micro-nutrient supplementations, providing complementary and traditional medicines and improving step down referral facilities for patients.
The plan would also ensure that patients who qualified for and preferred antiretroviral (ARV) therapy were prepared for treatment.
This meant undergoing a treatment literacy programme to ensure that when they commenced treatment, patients adhered to treatment requirements.
Mngadi said the department was in the process of getting the supply of ARVs through a national quotation system, as an interim arrangement. This temporary arrangement would be in place while the tendering process for procuring drugs was proceeding, he said.
But Mngadi said the process of accrediting service sites to implement the Comprehensive Plan had revealed ”major gaps in the national health system”.
He said the system lacked a good patient information system and comprehensive network of laboratory services at the point of service.
It also lacked the recruitment and retention of medical, nursing and pharmacy staff and a baseline survey to establish a starting point, while the provincial health information systems did not talk to each other.
He said the department was also concerned about the state of readiness of the service sites, and the need to ensure that training on the comprehensive plan was done in line with the recently approved national treatment protocol and guidelines.
”Therefore we are making every effort to address these deficiencies and to strengthen the national health system, as a whole.”
Some of the accredited facilities at hospitals in Gauteng include the Helen Joseph, Johannesburg and Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospitals.
Lejweleputsha Bongani Hospital in the Free State has been accredited, while District Hospital, Ethekwini King Edward VIII, Addington and Zululand Benedictine were also named.
In Limpopo, facilities identified were District Hospital, Bohlabela Mapulaneng, Waterberg Mokopane and Vhembe Tshilidzini Hospitals.
Mngadi said the accreditation process was still underway, and sites in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape would be visited during the first and second weeks of April, respectively.
”More sites will be announced in due course, as the accreditation team accredits them.” – Sapa