Issued by Ministry of Health
26 July 2005
The Department of Health today responded to the issues raised by the Treatment Action Campaign in a memorandum delivered to the management of the Frontier Hospital in Queenstown (Eastern Cape).
Frontier Hospital was the first hospital to be accredited as a treatment site at the Chris Hani District Municipality in line with the target of establishing one service point in every district before March 2005 as conceptualised in the Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and AIDS.
The main demand of the TAC was that the uptake of patients into the antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme at the hospital be "increased" to 20 patients per month.
The review of the implementation of the treatment programme at the hospital in the first six months of this year indicates that an average 27 patients commenced ART at this site per month. The breakdown of the number of patient commencing treatment at Frontier Hospital per month is as follows: 18 patients in January, 34 in February, 25 in March, 28 in April, 30 in May, 26 in June.
More than 415 patients have been enrolled on the ART programme since the hospital started providing this type of treatment.
More than 6 000 people have been started on ART in the 16 accredited treatment sites in the Eastern Cape province.
Like other facilities in the province, the hospital is addressing the challenge of attracting adequate number of staff to support the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan.
At least 270 posts for health professionals were advertised last week to enhance implementation of the programme in the province. (These include: 32 ART coordinators, 120 nurses, 21 doctors, 25 pharmacists, 36 administration officers, 36 data capturers). More posts will be advertised on Monday August 01.
Four more hospitals - Glen Grey, Cala, All Saints and Cradock - have been accredited to provide treatment in the Chris Hani district and are expected to commence enrolling patients as from next month.
The Department has no objection to the TAC's request to assist in patient education around issues of HIV and AIDS. It is our intention to work together with civil society and other parties in addressing particularly the challenge of treatment compliance and patient support.
Frontier Hospital management has committed itself to set up monthly forum meetings that would be open to community organisations involved in the response to HIV and AIDS. The forum will provide a platform for a continuous sharing of information in the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan at the hospital.
We hope that lack of information, which has led to the TAC engaging in an unnecessary protest action against the Frontier Hospital has been addressed. We also express our appreciation to the TAC for managing the conduct of its supporters during today's march as agreed upon in a meeting with the Eastern Cape Health MEC, Dr Bevan Goqwana yesterday.
Contact
Sibani Mngadi, Spokesperson for the Minister of Health @ 0827720161 or
Sizwe Kupelo, Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Department of Health @ 0835595202