Patients with HIV/AIDS are provided with ARV drugs at a health facility in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City
health centres that provide treatment to patients with HIV/AIDS should merge by
the end of the year with district-level hospitals if the centres are unable to
expand services to upgrade into general health clinics, which offer various
kinds of treatment to all patients, a local official has said.
Twenty-one of the city’s 24 health centres
(formerly known as preventive health centres) offer treatment for HIV/AIDS
patients and preventive health services.
Many of these centres, however, have not signed
contracts with the (VSS), and thus, patients with
HIV/AIDS, even those with health insurance cards, cannot be insured.
Dr Tieu Thi Thu Van, head of the city’s Centre for
HIV/AIDS Prevention, at a meeting between the department and its health centres
held last week, said that the centres which lack conditions to upgrade to a
general health clinic should merge with district-level hospitals to ensure
continuity of treatment for HIV/AIDS patients as well as health insurance
coverage.
“If patients with HIV/AIDS stop using
anti-retroviral (ARV) medicine for one week, they will become resistant to the
medicine, leading to a problem of epidemic control in the city,” Van said.
The cost for treatment for patients who are
resistant to the drug would not be covered by insurance, Van said, adding that
the cost is five to 10 times higher than the usual treatment given before
drug-resistance.
International aid to Vietnam that covers the
costs of ARV drugs is gradually being reduced and will completely end by 2020,
Van said.
At the beginning of the year, state insurance
funds will start covering costs for ARV drugs.
If health centres are able to upgrade to general
clinics, they could then sign contracts for insured examinations and drug
treatment with the VSS.
If the health centres merge with district-level
hospitals, they would transfer their patients with HIV/AIDS to the hospital to
receive ARV medicine and other treatment covered by health insurance, according
to Van.
“Of the surveyed 28,000 patients with HIV/AIDS
in the city, 72 percent have health insurance cards,” Van said.
The city’s People’s Committee has approved
purchase of health insurance cards for all patients with HIV/AIDS who have HCM
City household registration books or temporary resident status for six months,
she added.
At least 90 percent of insured patients with
HIV/AIDS do not use their health cards as most of the facilities where they go
for treatment have no contracts with the VSS.
By December, the Ministry of Health will provide
ARV drugs to the city’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Pham Ngoc Thach
Hospital, District 1 Hospital, Tan Phu District Hospital, Thu Duc District
Hospital and health centres in the districts of Tan Phu, Thu Duc and Binh Chanh
that have the capacity to upgrade to general health clinics.
According to a report from the city’s Centre for
HIV/AIDS Prevention, the city as of July had 31,000 patients with HIV/AIDS
receiving ARV treatment at 31 health facilities.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
