OPINION: Crisis as Free State ARV programme collapses
The AIDS epidemic in our country, over more than 10 years, has had sadly many more downs than ups.
Free State
Read More » OPINION: Crisis as Free State ARV programme collapses
30 dying every day in the Free State – HIV Clinicians
At least 30 HIV positive people have died in the Free State every day following a moratorium the province placed on initiating any new patients on anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, according to conservative figures from the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society.
Drugs trickle into the Free State
Most hospital and clinics in the Free State have still not started treating the more than 15 000 people waiting for their anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, however the national health department has given the assurance that drugs will now start arriving at all 28 sites.
Free State woes continue
The antiretroviral shortages in the Free State which reached crisis proportions last year when the province ran out of the critical medication are continuing, according to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
Free State goes into crisis mode
The Free State health department has announced that its financial situation has reached 'dire proportions' forcing it to postpone all non-emergency surgery until January next year and stop all non-critical staff appointments.
Free State patients ‘will die’ after being refused treatment
Free State doctors say some patients denied antiretroviral treatment because of the financial crisis in the province will die, and fear that they might face court action.
Free State in disarray over ARV funds
Panicky e-mails sent to Free State health facilities with instructions to 'stop putting new clients on ARVs' appear to have been caused by a misinterpretation of the budget or gross financial mismanagement after National Treasury indicated that the province had spent less than half of its conditional grant allocated for prevention and treatment.
Increase in health care spending for Free State but low utilization
Almost half of the Free State's three million people live in households that survived on less than R800 per month in 2005.
Free State targets primary health care
The Free State has more than doubled its expenditure on Primary Health Care (PHC) from R91 per patient in 2001 to R221.
Free State shares sober lessons about ARV rollout
At the first public forum to discuss the antiretroviral rollout, healthworkers are blunt about their problems.
Free State ‘ Primary Priorities in Place
Ten years later, health services in the flat, often bleak, central province of Free State are stable and the quality of care is improving.
Free fluconazole available in certain state hospitals
The free diflucan promised by government on December 1 last year is now available in state hospitals in certain provinces. The medication, which treats two common opportunistic infections that affect people with HIV/AIDS, is currently available in Gauteng and the Western Cape and at least four other provinces will follow soon.