The roll-out of treatment for HIV/Aids in Gauteng started smoothly on Thursday, with five hospitals in the province dispensing free anti-retroviral drugs to patients.
Health department spokesperson Simon Zwane said the patients who received the drugs had already been informed that they qualified.
”They went to hospital to receive final counselling, and then they were put on the treatment.”
There were no unexpected patients, he said.
He said all patients treated for HIV/Aids with anti-retrovirals will receive extensive counselling on how the drugs have to be taken, possible side effects, what they should do, and the nutrition they will need.
Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa visited Johannesburg and Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospitals to talk to staff and patients about the roll-out.
Shilowa assured patients that this would be a sustainable programme, said Zwane, and said the province planned to have 23 institutions dispensing these drugs by this time next year.
Provincial minister of Health Gwen Ramokgopa visited Helen Joseph and Coronation hospitals, said Zwane, and the head of the health department, Letitia Rispel, was at Kalafong hospital on Wednesday.
”We are sure that the roll-out has started smoothly in all five hospitals,” said Zwane.
Gauteng announced its HIV/Aids treatment programme in March this year. It is the third province to start dispensing free anti-retroviral drugs to people living with HIV/Aids. — Sapa
Aids clinics ready to receive patients