| Business |
Hope on the horizon
AT long last anti-retroviral drugs
are beginning to appear outside Port Moresby.
Limited quantities of these drugs have from time to time been
available at certain hospitals but many others have remained
without them.
It has proven impossible to distribute these drugs throughout the
country in one co-ordinated campaign.
There are many contributory factors to this delay.
They include the cost of these essential HIV/AIDS medications, the
lack of specialist training available to PNG doctors and hospital
staff, the absence of authoritative infection statistics and a
level of apathy on the part of far too many supposedly involved in
the process.
Some of those problems
remain to be solved, but undeniable progress is being made.
Nothing can excuse the lack of urgency displayed by some in the
medical profession and by many in Parliament; a concerted effort
to obtain these drugs could have resulted in their availability 10
years ago.
Its tempting to dismiss that hiatus because we now appear to be
addressing the issue but we remember the scores of Papua New
Guineans who would still be alive today had they been able to
access these anti-retroviral drugs.
One of the latest hospitals to benefit from the rollout is Modilon
in Madang.
The hospital now has anti-retroviral drugs; better still the
doctors and medical specialists attached to the hospital and some
in private practice have just completed a fortnight’s workshop to
ensure that they have up to date information about HIV and AIDS
and the use of anti-retrovirals.
This is timely; this week news from overseas heralded the first
appearance of a new branch of drug therapy for fighting the
disease.
These new drugs are presently making their way through the
rigorous testing processes of the USA Food and Drug regulations.
The National has waged a long-running campaign on behalf of the
public and people living with HIV and AIDS.
We have repeatedly stated our concern at the major imbalance
between the awareness campaigns and the attempts to prevent the
escalation of infection rates on the one hand and the facilities,
training and care needed to minister to HIV and AIDS patients on
the other.
The awareness and prevention brigade has attracted vast sums of
aid from both our own and foreign governments, while treatment,
psychological care and appropriate facilities for the seriously
ill and dying have limped along, a very poor second.
We have also drawn attention for more than three years to the
growing and now potentially explosive problem of children who are
HIV or AIDS infected, many of whom have been made orphans by the
deaths of first one and then the other parent.
To date, we are unaware of any commitment on the part of the
government to set up an orphanage, fund studies into the
particular needs of HIV and AIDS infected PNG children and devise
legislation and systems of care to protect these small and
innocent sufferers.
We can only hope that the move to spread anti-retroviral drugs
throughout the country will be followed by the development of a
comprehensive and sensitive programme to develop dedicated
hospital wards for a community in which the number of HIV and AIDS
sufferers is increasing in leaps and bounds.
We believe that figures shortly to be released will demonstrate
once again that the HIV and AIDS pandemic is not only still with
us but continuing to grow at a most alarming rate.
If that is so, we cannot simply turn our backs on the products of
that pandemic and ignore what is fast becoming a significant
percentage of our population.
We call for a far bigger percentage of available funds to be
invested in helping to solve or alleviate the medical,
psychological and social issues raised by this burgeoning
pandemic.
The National, on behalf of HIV and AIDS sufferers throughout the
nation, appreciates the efforts of the Minister for Health Sir
Peter Barter and those who have supported him in addressing this
situation.
We trust that the initiative now begun will continue, despite
elections and possible changes of government.
There must be no more deaths through lack of medical treatment and
appropriate drugs.
 
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