Also available in: Español

Shortage of antiretroviral medicines also affects users protected by precautionary measures that forced the State to ensure medication for them in a sustained manner.

Source: Corresponsales clave (Key correspondents)

By: Miranda Suero

The roughest and longest shortage of second- and third-line HIV medicines continues in the Dominican Republic. Although there is no official data available, it is estimated that hundreds of people do not receive medication right now despite complaints and demands of civil society, which has been requesting the State for 5 months now to guarantee the right to adequate health services for all users of the national HIV program.

Since the shortage began last September, actions have been carried out to prevent this kind of inconveniences in the future, which have become a constant issue in recent years, but this is the most colossal one with the greatest impact on users, since their therapy has been changing indiscriminately, without any medical criteria whatsoever, adducing that the different treatment schemes administered to them are bioequivalent.

This lack of order has caused different reactions in users, as they have been given second-line medicines after having taken third-line medicines and then have been given first-line medicines without taking into account the reasons why their treatment was changed. Nonetheless, there are still people who have not taken any medicine for months because they did not want to be subjected to such a decision.

The Dominican State has not spoken about this issue, and the different ministries involved in the purchase and distribution of these medicines have been tossing around this “hot potato”, but none of them is taking responsibility for what is happening nor offering an effective response.

On the one hand, Víctor Terrero, Director of the National Council for HIV and AIDS (CONAVIHSIDA), reported that the lack of medicines is due to a delayed fund disbursement for purchasing them. On the other hand, Felipa Garcia and Adonis Polanco, both renowned activists of the country, agreed that the crisis is due to poor planning in the previous purchase process, where the precaution of including enough stock for new cases was not taken.

This way, the crisis does not only prevent adherence—which is so difficult to achieve—, but also has a negative impact on the mental state of those who suffer because of it. Additionally, in most cases, people do not receive any explanation about this change that is going to affect their life and their body.

The National Front of Activists and Independent Advisors (FRENACI in Spanish) will call upon the State to immediately solve this situation; otherwise, they will continue to express their complaints both at a national and international level in order to eradicate this bad practice.

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