via allafrica.com, by Ayanda Mkhwanazidoms
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has vowed to mobilise more communities to fight for quality health should the Gauteng Health Department not deliver on their demands. This week, the TAC marched to the office of Gauteng Health MEC demanding the restoration of health services.
Angry TAC members marched to the office of the Gauteng Health MEC, Ntombi Mekgwe, this week, demanding an end to the drug shortage in health facilities. Health services in Gauteng have been dealt a severe blow due to drug stock outs which have been ongoing for months. The TAC says the last straw was the lack of vital treatment, such as the Tenofovir drug, one of the Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) for HIV-positive people. Serote says it is unacceptable that essential drugs are unavailable to patients.
"For example, Tenofovir is a good drug that we, as the TAC, fought for, so everybody can access it for free. But what is happening in health facilities is that they do not stock enough. Others (patients) are switched with Stavudine", she says.
Some of the messages written on posters by prostestors were loud and clear: 'Provide treatment and do not gamble with our lives'.
Serote says patients have been constantly turned away from clinics and told to return on another date
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[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position. Please look for us on Facebook here www.facebook.com/MappingPathways and you can follow us on Twitter @mappingpathways as well.]
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has vowed to mobilise more communities to fight for quality health should the Gauteng Health Department not deliver on their demands. This week, the TAC marched to the office of Gauteng Health MEC demanding the restoration of health services.
"This is violation of many rights in the Constitution... the right to equality... everybody has a right to free health care service, but because we are poor and do not have medical aid, I can't access health care. They are further violating our right to life because, for the love of God, these ARVs are our life and without them we are dead", Deputy Chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign in the Ekurhuleni district of Gauteng, Portia Serote, did not mix her words as she reminded the hundreds of TAC members of their basic rights as enshrined in the Constitution.
Angry TAC members marched to the office of the Gauteng Health MEC, Ntombi Mekgwe, this week, demanding an end to the drug shortage in health facilities. Health services in Gauteng have been dealt a severe blow due to drug stock outs which have been ongoing for months. The TAC says the last straw was the lack of vital treatment, such as the Tenofovir drug, one of the Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) for HIV-positive people. Serote says it is unacceptable that essential drugs are unavailable to patients.
"For example, Tenofovir is a good drug that we, as the TAC, fought for, so everybody can access it for free. But what is happening in health facilities is that they do not stock enough. Others (patients) are switched with Stavudine", she says.
Some of the messages written on posters by prostestors were loud and clear: 'Provide treatment and do not gamble with our lives'.
Serote says patients have been constantly turned away from clinics and told to return on another date
Read the rest.
[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position. Please look for us on Facebook here www.facebook.com/MappingPathways and you can follow us on Twitter @mappingpathways as well.]
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