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20bn/- set aside for Aids drugs
2005-07-21 07:20:46
By Judica Tarimo, Dodoma
The government will spend 20bn/- to buy anti retroviral drugs this financial year, the House was told yesterday.
Minister for Defence and National Service Prof Philemon Sarungi told Mgana Msindai (Iramba-North, CCM) that the drugs would be distributed for free to people living with HIV/Aids.
Answering the MP on behalf of the Minister of Health, Prof Sarungi said the government was targeting 500,000 people under a broader free-drugs distribution programme.
Latest figures indicate that an estimated 2 million people have been infected with the disease.
The minister said the programme would benefit a total of 44,000 patients by December this year.
”The focus is to reach 500,000 patients within a period of five years,” he said.
The minister said the programme had already distributed free drugs to 96 government and private-owned health centres and purchased drugs worth 10m/- for distribution to 21,000 patients.
He added that patients with HIV symptoms would also be receiving the drugs on the basis of guidelines approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Out of the 21,000 patients currently receiving the drugs, according to Sarungi, about 4,240 were children while the rest were adults.
Lucas Seleli (Nzega, CCM) asked the government to find means of helping people infected by HIV/Aids with nutritional and balanced diet saying drugs alone could not prolong their lives.
The minister said, \”the government recognises the role of nutritional food in prolonging lives, but cannot provide it…the task remains with patients’ relatives and family members, as there is plenty of food and fruits a round.”
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