GOVERNMENT has dispelled reports that there is a shortage of Anti-Retroviral Drugs in the country.
Health deputy minister Chitalu Chilufya has dismissed the claims of a shortage as reported by some sections of the media.
Dr Chilufya said the country had no shortage of ARVs but that Government was currently regulating the dispensation of another drug on the ARVs combination, AZT.
AZT was one of the drugs administered to HIV postive people especially pregnant mothers.
Dr Chilufya noted that the ministry had changed the treatment for HIV pregnant women and switched to Option B+.
“Option B+ is the new treatment where if a pregnant woman is found to be positive, she would be immediately introduced to the full ART treatment which would be administered to her for life,” he said.
Dr Chilufya also said the current taskforce constituted to monitor the pilfering of drugs from Government hospitals had helped reduce the vices.
He said so far 15 cases involving some health workers and supporting staff who were arrested for drug pilferage in different health post were being prosecuted in the courts of law at different levels.
“We have strengthened the surveillance controls by the taskforce as well as strengthened internal controls in the health facilities to avoid drug pilferages in health facilities,” he said.
He also confirmed that Government had opened the Chipata and Choma medical stores provincial hub in an effort to decentralise the distribution of drugs.
He said the Provincial medical hubs would make it easy for distribution of drugs to respective districts in the provinces and make easy for health centres to easily access these drugs. Government was working on opening other hubs Mongu Solwezi and other provinces.
These hubs would be equipped with transport for easy delivery of these products to districts where hospitals can access them.
And Ministry of Health spokesperson Kamoto Mbewe has attributed the current shortage of Septrine in health facilities around the country to delays in the shipment of the drugs by the suppliers.
Dr Mbewe said stop gap measures have been put in place to address the shortage of the drug in health facilities in the country.
Septrine is an antibiotic drug that is administered together with Anti-retroviral Drugs (ARVs) to prevent HIV Positive people from opportunistic infections that might affect their CD4 count to result in a fully blown AIDS disease.
“To address the shortage we have allowed each district to use four percent of their grant to buy the Septrine, while other stop gap measures are being put in place as we wait for the shipment,” Dr Mbewe said.
why use the word pilferages intead of stealing. You want us to read with dictionary everytime. use normal words sha!
@dekings naimwe thats a right word to be used in that situ. stealing is a blanket word there it tells u who is involved. stealing would mean pipo anyone stealing from hospitals not just workers.
Haha ati use normal wards ,you have made my day.What a country, do they plan or not?
pliz gvt provide arvs snce they a vital for now days living and by so doing, i think the number of pipo that vot wil increase in the country in oda for u to continue testing the honey that u are haply testing now.
Always in denial.
Which is better; ARVs or Sondashi formula?
Please this is a life issue and we should not joke about it. we have children born positive and they never had sexual intercourse.. The medicine is helping to prolong their lives. This is the issue of concern by all stake holders and not Government alone.
I have a question for those of you in Zambia, specifically Lusaka. Have clinics (private or public or both) not had other ARVs in stock for the last seven or eight months? I heard that UNZA clinic has not had the drugs in stock, and that the patients have had to buy them at pharmacies instead. ARVs like Efavirenz, Abacavir, Lamivudine, Nevirapine, etc. I don’t know if this is true or not, so I’d greatly appreciate it if someone can confirm or deny this rumor, or at least let me know what they’ve heard or seen. Either way, this AZT shortage is very bad, and I wish the government and donors were more forthcoming with information about such situations.
Had we announced to the world that Zambia had discovered a cure for Aids through the efforts of one Zambian based researcher named Ludwig Saunders the whites would have acknowledged the Saunders Formula SF2000 as a credible ART drug for global use.