UNOPA has sent to the Ministry of Public Health a Memo Regarding the Distribution of ARV Drugs
26 February 2008
The National Union of Organizations of People Infected / Affected by HIV/AIDS (UNOPA) published yesterday a press release as a reaction to the Public Health Minister's intention to distribute the medicines necessary for the HIV/AIDS treatment throughout the network of open-circuit pharmacies.
Within the memorandum submitted to the Ministry of Public Health, the UNOPA requests on behalf of HIV/AIDS affected people that the distribution of the medicines continue under the same system that had been successfully working in the past 5 years.
In order to support this initiative, there had been presented more reasons, some of these present the maintenance the confidentiality, ensuring the compliance to the treatment, financial issues and costs, etc.See below the press release sent by UNOPA:
"Press release
25.02.2008
UNOPA Federation requests the Ministry of Public Health to not have the medicines for seropositive people in the open-circuit pharmacies.
As a reaction to the recent Government Decision proposal of Public Health Minister, Mr. Eugen Nicolaescu, through which it is intended to have the HIV/AIDS medicines distributed in the open-circuit pharmacies. The member of the National Union of Organizations of People Infected / Affected by HIV/AIDS had met in the Extraordinary Management Board on Friday, 22.02.2008.
Following the analysis of the changes proposed by the Government Decision that will come into force on April 1st 2008, the Management Board of UNOPA had decided to submit a memorandum to the Minister of Public Health, in order to have the organizations for HIV/AIDS people requesting him not to implement this decision project.
This initiative is following to a meeting that the UNOPA representatives had had it together with the ones from the National Office of Health Insurance, the Pharmacists College, the National Committee to fight AIDS, UNAIDS on Thursday, 21.02.2008 with the Ministry of Health representatives.
Within the meeting all the attendees proved that this change is not welcomed due to:
- over 50% of seropositive patients will interrupt the treatment due to serious violation of the confidentiality principle in the community they live in
- the HIV infection's monitoring and control system in Romania, which is now a model in other countries, will become ineffective due to the fact that the HIV positive people will not have to get in touch with the specialist physician
- there will be treatment interruptions due to the pharmacies that will not be able to execute the HIV positive people's treatment, being a very expensive one. This interruptions will lead to patients' resistance to the treatment and then death
- the centralized system of Treatment's procurement and distribution to the patients throughput the infectious diseases' sections of the county hospitals, had been working very well and has as a results the increase of patients' hope of life
- throughout the centralized procurement system, Romania had benefited of important discounts from the producers, discounts that now will be lost
- all the good results that Romania has had them so far in HIV/AIDS prevention and control will be lost and the number of the HIV cases will increase.
If the Ministry will not give up this change, a few hundred of HIV infected people will come after March 20th and will march at the headquarter of the Ministry of Public Health in order to make themselves heard and to have their rights respected."
Click here in order to see the memorandum submitted by UNOPA to the Ministry of Public Health!
For further information, please send an e-mail to: unopa@unopa.ro.
