-Ramsammy
Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said people are “blowing up” the unavailability of the antiretroviral drug Efavirenz and he has assured that it will be in the country.
The shipment was expected “at midnight,” Ramsammy said when asked yesterday. Persons on the National Care and Treatment programme have been supplied with one of the drugs, Travada, which is part of the combination therapy provided by the national programme.
Ramsammy said persons on treatment would access the drug as soon as it is available to the public, which is likely to be sometime tomorrow. However, he said persons can go ahead and take the daily dose of Travada because “it is actually two drugs in one.” He said that the absence of Efavirenz poses no danger to those who are on treatment.
On Tuesday, news of the unavailability of the drug here broke with the National AIDS Committee (NAC) saying that it has received complaints from persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) over the shortage; the Health Minister made no prior announcements. The NAC reported that two drugs were in short supply; Efavirenz and Travada but Ramsammy said it is only one drug which is currently not available.
One of the persons on the national treatment programme approached Stabroek News yesterday to register his disappointment over the ministry’s handling of the problem. The man explained that he was given a three-day supply of Travada this week and was not informed as to when the other drug would be available. “Is de papers I got to buy and read because they ain’t telling we nothing,” he said, noting that the ministry, at minimum, should release such details to persons on the programme.
The man said he has not taken any of the medication since this week because he is afraid of taking the single pill. Since he entered the programme, he has used the combination therapy and according to him, the single pill goes against what he has been advised “all this time.”
The man said he was forced to take up the issue with two local non-governmental organizations this week because no one from the ministry was offering him any answers. Further, he said that the national programme recently stopped providing him with a three-month supply of drugs on the grounds offering what he called “a poor excuse.”
