Get your HIV medication from post office
Sapo advises patients who would like to collect medication from a convenient post office to make arrangements with their clinic or hospital.
THE patients collecting their chronic medication from government health institutions can now fetch it at their nearest post offices.
The good news was revealed by the South African Post Office (Sapo) today, December 1, as the country commemorates World AIDS Day.
ALSO read: World Aids Day: The fight forges ahead
Sapo said the patients who live closer to the post office than their health institution can request to collect their medication from their nearest office.
“The service is aimed at patients who live or work closer to a post office than a government clinic. The main benefit of the service is longer service hours,” said Sapo in the statement.
Sapo advises patients who would like to collect medication from a convenient post office to make arrangements with the clinic or hospital.
They added: “The collection service is available at 342 post offices in all provinces except the Western Cape. These post offices were selected because they comply with the requirements of the Department of Health. Medication that requires specialised storage, such as cold storage, cannot be collected from a post office.”
Sapo disclosed that the health department sends an SMS to the patient when the medication is ready for collection, and patients have 14 days to collect it before the medication is returned to the department.
According to the statement, an estimated 8.2 million South Africans live with HIV. Since 1984, when the HIV virus was identified, more than 35 million people lost their lives to it. The post office branches are open until 17:00 on weekdays and until 12:00 on Saturdays.
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