TAC Welcomes SANAC's Call on Government. 06/02/08

Please note that TAC has scheduled a number of public events next week (week of 9 February) in the Western Cape and Free State provinces in relation to the issues addressed in this statement. For further details on these events please read further or click here.

The TAC and our partner, the AIDS Law Project, welcome the recommendation that was made by the Program Implementation Committee (PIC) of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) on 5 February, proposing that the moratorium on access to Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) for new patients in the Free State be lifted by Monday 9 February. In response the Director General of the Department of Health, who co-chairs the SANAC PIC, offered to provide a plan on how this situation could be addressed by Monday, 9th February 2009. This is a positive development.

At the SANAC meeting representatives from the Department of Health and the Treasury confirmed that the department is facing a financial crisis and that the demand for anti-retroviral treatment is growing rapidly. It seems that there is a risk that similar budgeting shortfalls may affect the ART programmes in other provinces in the near future. TAC and the ALP calls on the Minister of Finance to ensure that the 2009/2010 budget increases funds to the provinces in order to ensure sustainable ART programmes and improve the quality of the health service generally.

The TAC and ALP call on government to act on the SANAC recommendations, and to confirm that it will reinstate the ART roll-out in the Free State as soon as possible. If the moratorium on access to ART in the Free State is not lifted by Monday 9 February 2009, or on a date soon thereafter provided by the DOH, TAC and the ALP will mobilize nationally and if necessary prepare legal action against the Free State province.

We continue to request that the reasons for the budgeting shortfall in the Free State be established, and that questions posed by the AIDS Law Project in letters to the Minister of Health, Minister of Finance and others be addressed. If the Free State Department of Health failed to follow legal process in pursuing emergency budget allocations, or to mount a contingency plan that could have prevented the grave impact of these cuts, the provincial leadership must be held accountable. Similar problems must be avoided in other Provinces.

The ALP and TAC will closely monitor the implementation of the enrollment of people in the Free State ART programme. As soon as a date is set to re-start the programme, we call on the Free State government to publicise widely the reinstatement of the programme and to assist health care workers to eliminate waiting lists. We call on the private health providers and hospitals in the Free State to volunteer to assist with this.

For further information please contact:
TAC General Secretary Vuyiseka Dubula: 082 763 3005
TAC Chairperson Nonkosi Khumalo: 074 194 5911
AC Policy, Communication and Research Manager Rebecca Hodes: 079 426 8682

Background Notes:
• In November 2008, TAC began receiving reports about critical shortages of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the province of the Free State. Due to the treatment shortages, healthcare workers were instructed by senior provincial healthcare officials to stop initiating new patients on ART.
•  Free State healthcare workers were also told to halt baseline blood work and treatment readiness programmes, and were instructed that only pregnant women and children should be granted access to ART, possibly only for the purpose of prevention-of-mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) rather than the initiation of an ongoing treatment regimen.
• A series of 'Cost Curtailing Measures' were implemented by the Free State Department of Health. These drastically reduced the healthcare services available in the province, violating the constitutional right of access to these services.
•  Pax Ramela, the head of the Free State Health Department, explained in a statement that the ART shortage was a result of a budgeting shortfall of R63 million in the HIV/AIDS Conditional Grant allocated by National Treasury. In order to address this shortfall, further funds were made available through a donation by USAID.
• These funds were either insufficient to alleviate the drastic cuts in healthcare services which had been implemented in the Free State to offset expenses; or they were not solely dedicated to alleviating the cost the moratorium on ART.
For further background, please visit The TAC website.