TAC to protest over shortage of ARV treatment

By Yamkela Xhaso
10 February

The Treatment Action Campaign says it is going to handover a memorandum to Dumisa Jele, Ministry of Finance Chief of Staff, calling on National Treasury and Minister of Finance to increase provincial health budgets in light of the ARV shortage in the Free State.

The TAC says it will embark on a protest tomorrow outside Cape Town and the campaign’s Policy, Communications and Research Manager Rebecca Hodes said most people HIV patients who have advanced Aids have not achieved treatment since November last year due to a budget shortfall.

Hodes said if the person does not receive treatment then “you will be confining them to death”. It’s a very urgent matter and we just need some greater transparency and accountability about why is that certain very important measures pertained.

Hodes added that there was a big scale back of critical service and why were the services cut back?

“We want great accountability and we want an explanation” for the reason why measures have led to the detriment to the lives of the people of Free State.

Meanwhile the TAC press conference on the Free State ART shortages which was supposed to take place today at the TAC boardroom Ubuntu Clinic in Khayelitsha has been cancelled.

Rebecca said the reason for this is because the deputy director for the UNA was visiting Africa.

“We didn’t want to have a clash; we didn’t want to have too many events”

Hodes said the Free State at the moment was their primary priority. “There was too much going on this morning that is why we postponed the press conference”