The
nationwide shortage of HIV drugs distributed at Anti retroviral Therapy (ART)
cen tres has affected people in and around Ahmedabad too, with patients being
turned away or given medicines for three days as opposed to the norm of six
months. The reason, say experts, is National Aids Control Society's (NACO)
delay in filing a tender for the supply of the medicine. The shortage, say
doctors, is alarming because irregular consumption of medicines could lead to
patients developing drug-resistant HIV.
“I
went to the Civil Hospital on Thursday to take the HIV medicine for my
25-year-old son but was told to return on Friday. Then I was told to come the
following week as they didn't have medicines,“ says daily wage labourer Arjun
Seth, who travels to Ahmedabad from Narol once in six months to procure the
medications, all at the cost of a day's wage.“Being the sole earning member
of the family and a daily wage labourer, I have limited income and it is not
feasible for me to spend more than a day without work,“ said Seth, who is
worried how the lack of medicines will hamper his son's health.
The
situation is similar at all Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation ART centres which
have been dealing with the shortage for a week now. “Patients are given
medicines for six months but in the last one week, patients have been given
dosage of only three days due to shortage of medicines,“ said Jayetri Shah,
an HIV patient and volunteer with Gujarat Network for People Living with
HIVAIDS.
SIMILAR
SHORTAGE IN SEPTEMBER 2014
This
is not the first time there has been a shortage of HIV drugs. In September
2014, delay in issuing a tender led to an acute shortage of drugs for more
than a month. Patients and NGOs had reportedly written to the state health
minister, seeking help.
There
are a total of 27 ART centres in Gujarat. A total of 40,000 patients are
dependent on the ART centres of which 37,000 are adult and the remaining are
children, states a NACO report available online. As per the NACO website:
“One third of the HIV patients in the state (Gujarat) are provided with
medicine from ART centres.“ According to data provided by health department,
in 2014 around 30,000 patients received treatment in AIDS in the state.
DELAY
IN TAKING MEDICATION CAN AGGRAVATE CONDITION
Each
day, more than 100 patients visit ART centres in the city to collect HIV
drugs to be taken at regular interval to control the disease. The shortage
has alarmed the medical fraternity. Dr Keyur Shah, HIV specialist explained,
“The medication needs to be taken without any gap. If a patient doesn't
consume the medicines properly, there are chances that he she may develop
drug resistant HIV which is almost impossible to treat due to limitation in
the medical field.“ While the medicine is available free of cost at ART
centres, private hospitals charge a heft amount which is unaffordable by
several people.
“The
problem started in 2013 when the Union Health Ministry did not place tenders
to procure drugs in time. This damaged the AIDS national health programme.
Adding to the crisis, the Union government slashed funds for the HIV
programme by almost 25 per cent last year,“ Shah added.
GOVT
DELAY CAUSING SHORTAGE
The
Central Board of Excise and Customs recently scrapped customs import duties
for drugs and test kits to cope with the ongoing shortage.While in a recent
interview to a news agency, Leena Menghaney, an activist with the medical
charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said, “Some drug makers stopped
participating in the government's tender process over the past year because
of delays in getting paid“, reports have stated that NACO is now pressurising
pharma company Aurobindo Pharma, one of the manufacturers, to manage supplies
to overcome the crisis.
When
contacted by Mirror, AS Rathor, in charge of ARTS centres under NACO at the
state level, refused to comment on the situation. “Please ask the central
government about it.We are not allowed to provide any information,“ he said.
(Some
names have been changed to protect identity)
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