LOCKDOWN has badly affected patients receiving ARVs.
This was according to a survey released yesterday by the Treatment Action Campaign.
The survey found people living with HIV had been unnecessarily crowding the health system, because they had to return to clinics each month for ARVs.
The organisation called on hospitals to give longer treatment refills.
General secretary Anele Yawa said: “This means many people living with HIV will have to return to health facilities, risking exposure to people with coronavirus.”
The team surveyed 28% of people living with HIV.
“We’re concerned that more than 90% of people living with HIV who reported ARV collection during lockdown received less than three months’ supply,” Yawa said.
Activists called for the urgent roll-out of six months of ARV supplies.
“Longer supplies increase convenience for people living with HIV, who already often face long queues and poor attitudes when collecting refills, which can cause people to stop taking treatment altogether,” said Yawa.
“Fewer visits to the clinic also reduce the burden on already overstretched and overburdened healthcare workers.”
Chairwoman Sibongile Tshabalala told Daily Sun they were flooded with calls last week from patients who had run out of medication as clinics had been closed due to the coronavirus.
She said: “Some defaulted and this has compromised their health and is making them vulnerable to the spread of Covid-19.”
A 46-year-old HIV patient from Ekurhuleni said his clinic was closed for the whole of last week and he only received a refill on Monday.
“I always make sure I don’t skip a day, but last week I had to skip two days,” he said.
