Gauteng Health is trying to trace thousands of TB and HIV-positive patients who have failed to collect their medication since the start of the lockdown on 27 March, 2020. The Times reports that the approximate number of patients who failed to collect their TB medicines is 1,090, while the number of patients who failed to collect their antiretroviral medicines is about 10,950.
“Since the lockdown the average percentage reduction in medicine collections for TB is 1.4% and 19.6% for HIV,” Gauteng Health said. “The department has developed and is implementing a track and trace plan to locate patients who have not come to collect their treatment and manage them accordingly.”
The trace efforts were happening through the ward-based outreach teams.
The report says the department expressed concern about the implications of the missed treatments. “Supply and transportation of medicines may be disrupted by flight cancellations and travel restrictions. The unavailability of medicines may lead to treatment interruption, which subsequently causes drug resistance and deterioration of patients’ health. Patients who do not comply with treatment remain vulnerable and may be susceptible to other opportunistic infections, the coronavirus being one of them,” the department said.
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-05-19-almost-11000-hiv-positive-patients-in-gauteng-have-skipped-arv-collection-during-lockdown/"]Full report in The Times[/link]