Hiv Drugs Available Free From October

[george]

BT30 HEALTHCARE SCHEME: HIV drugs available free from October

BANGKOK: -- Anti-retrovirals to be provided to 80,000 patients starting on Saturday under plan’s expanded coverage

HIV-positive patients who require life-saving anti-retroviral medication will be entitled to receive free treatment from October – starting Saturday – under extended coverage of the universal healthcare scheme.

About 80,000 HIV-positive patients are expected to be entitled to both

first and second-line drugs under the Bt30 healthcare scheme, and a further 20,000 will be covered by the Social Security Fund in the next one or two months.

The Public Health Ministry carried out a pilot project that delivered the treatment to about 1,600 people under the Bt30 scheme.

“This move will offer security for all people living with HIV/Aids in the country,” said Kamol Uppakaew, president of the Thailand Network of People Living with HIV/Aids.

Previously, only a select number of people received the treatment under a variety of projects that relied solely on short-term budgets, he said.

“From now on the state can guarantee access to the life-saving treatment for all individuals, no matter where they are,” Kamol said.

The government has allocated a special budget of Bt2.796 billion for the implementation of the anti-retroviral treatment scheme in the fiscal year 2006, which starts in October.

A sufficient supply of anti-retroviral drugs for use nation-wide starting in October has already been prepared, said Dr Sanguan Nitayarungphong, head of the National Security Office that oversees the Bt30 scheme.

Individuals already receiving the drugs under the existing programmes will also be entitled to treatment under the Bt30 scheme to ensure they get continuous treatment, he said.

About 10,000 out of the 80,000 who will receive the treatment have developed resistance to the drugs they were initially treated with and require a second-line drug which cost about Bt20,000 per individual per month.

The rest will use the basic regimen, the cost of which starts at about Bt1,200 per person per month.

Yesterday the Social Security Office promised a group of around 200 representatives of those living with HIV/Aids from across the country that it would make the same standard of anti-retroviral treatment available to a further 20,000 people over the next one or two months.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the National Committee on HIV/Aids yesterday it was announced that the government has allocated Bt3.369 bil-lion to step-up public education and campaigns about HIV/Aids protection.

Deputy Prime Minister Pinij Charusombat told the meeting that the campaigns were targeted at high-risk groups including young people, homosexual males, male and female sex workers and intravenous drug users.

--The Nation 2005-09-29