Text of report by Anthony Bugembe entitled "Health ministry
secure ARV drugs" published by state-owned, mass-circulation Ugandan
daily The New Vision website on 28 August
The shortage of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) is about to end, the
director general of health services, Dr Sam Zaramba, has assured the
public.
He told The New Vision on Tuesday [28 August] that Ministry of
Health was waiting for a batch of ARVs (AIDS drugs) from Quality
Chemicals Industries, which will "arrive any time".
"There is no need to panic because we are ensuring that ARVs are
delivered on time.
"The shortage is temporary and it is global because of the
increased demand worldwide."
He added that even the ingredients used in the manufacture of the
drugs had also become scarce. The government ordered for ARVs worth
1.8m dollars (3bn shillings) from Quality Chemicals, a
pharmaceutical company based in Luzira, Kampala.
The pharmaceutical's chief executive, Emmanuel Katongole, last
week told The New Vision that the first batch of the drugs would be
delivered this week.
Last week, health officials confirmed a shortage of ARVs at both
the national stores and the various designated sites in the country.
Meanwhile, Dr Kenya Mugisha, the director of Health Services
(clinical and community), had said ARVs for children are also
running out. Of the 50,000 children in immediate need of HIV
treatment, only 10,000 are accessing the medication.
In Uganda, the number of people in immediate need of the drugs
had risen from about 225,000 in 2006 to 312,000 today.
On average, 1,500 patients are enrolled on Anti-Retroviral
Therapy every month.
An estimated 1.1 million Ugandans are living with the virus that
causes AIDS.
Currently, 130,000 patients, including 10,000 children, are
receiving Arvs. This is about 42 per cent of the total number of
people in urgent need of the drugs. This percentage is one of the
highest on the African continent.
Highly active anti-retroviral therapy, the medication that
suppresses HIV to the extent that it can not be detected in blood,
first became available in Uganda in 1998.
