DR1.com - Of the 25,117 people registered as affected by HIV/AIDS, some 10,000 are not receiving their anti-viral medications or their CD4 laboratory exams. Dulce Almonte, executive director of the Dominican Network for People Working with HIV/AIDS says the shortage in supplies began on 30 May and the concern is that HIV/AIDS patients must take their medication without interruption. Almonte is urging for HIV/AIDS patients to be included in the Social Security program and National Social Security Council director Max Puig says he is working towards this goal. Minister of Public Health Bautista Rojas Gomez denies that there is a shortage of medications.
DR borrows AIDS drugs from Haiti
The Dominican government has resorted to borrowing ARV drugs from Haiti via the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), according to Dulce Almonte, director of the Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (Redovih). The Presidential AIDS Commission (Copresida) said that there was no drug shortage, in response to press reports earlier this week claiming that public health centers were experiencing a shortage and that the health authorities did not have the funds to purchase the medications.
Almonte said that the main thing was that people should receive their treatment. "We know that an application was made for a loan from the Haitian authorities, through PAHO", she said, pointing out that of 1000 patients only 100 have received their doses. |