Hillbrow Aids Clinic treats 22 000 patients with Antiretroviral medication
Hillbrow – The clinic is supported by the United States and provides adequate services to foreigners across the continent.
The Hillbrow HIV/Aids Clinic is a successful private/public partnership that treats 22 000 patients with Antiretroviral medication.
This is according to the Democratic Alliance leader and shadow MEC for health in Gauteng, Jack Bloom, following his visit to the clinic on 12 September.
Bloom visited the clinic to assess how the staff at the clinic are coping with an apparently high volume of patients.
The clinic is a government-run clinic that is assisted by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).
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Pepfar has refurbished the clinic and continues to provide extra funding where needed, including other essential assistance.
The clinic’s main challenge, according to the shadow health MEC, is a follow-up to ensure that patients do not interrupt ARV treatment, which can lead to resistance.
“I was astounded to find that more than 60 per cent of their patients are foreigners, many of whom do not even live in South Africa but come to access medicines,” said Bloom.
“The clinic only requires that they give an address and an ID of some kind as they are constitutionally required to treat them. Most of the foreign patients are Zimbabweans and give a Hillbrow address, which is hard to check.”
“I sympathise with Premier David Makhura who is attempting to get foreign embassies to pay for medical treatment of their citizens, but I suspect this will be difficult to enforce,” he said.
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According to Gauteng Health MEC, Gwen Ramokgopa foreigners make up between 15 and 35 percent of patients at Gauteng hospitals.
Bloom said, however, the national treasury only allocates funds based on the local population.
He said the provincial government’s efforts to get more funds to deal with the real numbers of patients treated by public health facilities in Gauteng is not enough.
Details: Jack Bloom 082 333 4222.
