Uganda: Health Ministry Receives ARVs
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New Vision (Kampala)
3 September 2008
Posted to the web 4 September 2008
Anthony Bugembe
Kampala
THE Ministry of Health has received the first batch of the anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) from Quality Chemicals Industries.
The drugs, which included those for malaria, were from India.
They were delivered at the National Medical Stores on Tuesday.
Martin Oteba, the acting assistant commissioner in charge of pharmaceuticals, declined to disclose the quantities and types of drugs delivered.
"I am still waiting for an update from the National Medical Stores," he told The New Vision yesterday.
Last month, the Government ordered for ARVs worth $1.8m (sh3b) from Quality Chemicals, a pharmaceutical company based in Luzira, Kampala.
The firm entered into a joint venture with CIPLA, a leading Indian pharmaceutical firm, to produce the drugs and sell them at a subsidised price. An estimated 1.1 million Ugandans are living with the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
The number of people in immediate need of the drugs had risen from about 225,000 in 2006 to 312,000 today.
Currently, 130,000 patients, including 10,000 children, are receiving ARVs.
On average, 1,500 patients are enrolled on treatment every month.
Sources at some ARVs designated sites in the country told The New Vision that the amount of drugs given to people living with AIDS had been cut down drastically due to the shortage of ARVs.
"Some of the patients, who were receiving drugs for two months, now get ARVs for only two weeks," the source said.
Relevant Links
Highly active antiretroviral therapy, the medication that suppresses HIV to the extent that it can not be detected in blood, first became available in Uganda in 1998.
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