By NATION REPORTER
An impending shortage of critical first line anti-retroviral drugs may place the lives of more than 70,000 patients in jeopardy.
Patients on HIV treatment have complained that the supply has been reduced to two weeks in response to the shortage that most hospitals and supply centers are facing.
A patient who spoke to the Nation said Government needed to take urgent steps to address the shortage of life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs (ART) at all public health institutions to prevent drug resistance and other complications.
About 70, 000 people who are on TLE – the first line ARV drugs have been left stranded as they have not been receiving their medication for two weeks.
According to patients talked to, the life-prolonging drugs have been out of stock for two weeks now and the situation has now escalated into a crisis.
“The TLE drugs have run out of stock and we are worried that will have other complications now. At the health centres, they are not giving us satisfactory answers why the drug has run out and it has been two weeks now,” the patient complained.
Efforts to get a comment from the minister of Health by press time proved futile.
