TACAIDS reels from govt debt, says NACOPHA

As reports of medicine consignments delivery to public hospitals have started to emerge across the country, the National Council of People living with HIV (NACOPHA) said claims that TACAIDS was not affected by Sh99billion government debt to Medical Store Department was a blatant lie.

The National Council’s Chairperson Vitalis Makayula said it was true that people living with HIV/Aids (PLHIV) are freely treated against all other opportunistic diseases but there was nowhere else the government can have access to such medicine apart from MSD.

Makayula said it is on that angle where people living with HIV become victims of the government’s debt to MSD.

He said it was true that TACAIDS’ is donor funded to the larger extent, but benefactors do offer only ARV drugs, to maximally suppress HIV virus, and not other medicine for other diseases accessible by HIV victims.

“There are other major diseases that weakens HIV/AIDS patient apart from the virus and delays in treating them might cause instant death. MSD strike meant untimely provision of such drugs to victims” he said.

He said besides medicine for opportunistic diseases, NACOPHA also lacks ARVs, mostly the second line of the drug, which are used to treat victims whose bodies fail to withstand first doses, specially known as first line.

He said normally victims starts using ARVs if their cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4), range between 200 and 350 saying medical professionals need to ensure that they find out the real cause of  some patients bodies ignoring the first line dose before shifting them to a second line dose.

According to him, balanced diet, ignorance, untimely daily dose, stopping taking the dose were among the reasons for the first line dose to act differently to victims bodies

However, the TACAIDS Director of Policy, Planning and Research, Dr Raphael Kalinga insisted yesterday that such fears by NACOPHA over ARVs shortages should be ignored.  Dr Kalinga said there was no problem with the availability of the said drugs. “Some patients not yet qualified to ARV’s were forcing medical attendants to provide such drugs to them.

Not everyone with the virus is entitled to ARVs. There are specific tests of patients’ body immunity that determines one access to drugs” he said.

He said the commission hasn’t faced with any drug shortages since 2004 when it first launched free drug provisions to patients, saying the only challenge it face is lack of health workers capacity to cope up with the rapid developments of the program being rolled throughout the country.

Last week, TACAIDS said it had enough funds and medical stocks to cater for the whole country this financial year amid fears of HIV/AIDS victims’ government’ Sh99bn debt to MSD.

The Commissioner Executive Chairperson, Dr Fatma Mrisho cleared the air saying her commission was not MSD dependent on medicines and funds but rather a donor reliability.