The ManicaPost
Catherine Murombedzi
THERE have been cases where people on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) have stopped taking medication after being told that they had received spiritual healing by pastors and a host of other faith healers.
Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa has given a stern warning to such faith healers.
Dr Parirenyatwa was speaking in Harare at a quality management course in radiotherapy.
Stopping ART has negative effects as one develops drug resistance. Drug resistance is when the medication which was being used before one stopped no longer works when one commences taking the same medication. This has serious repercussions which can be fatal. This is so as the HIV virus grows resistant to the once effective medication after drug interruption and multiples which in medical terms is known as mutation.
When this happens a patient who once used the basic first line medication has to be moved to the second line medication which is expensive.
“We are now getting prophets who give prophecy that a person is healed. We have a dilemma of whether we should include them under our Traditional Practitioners’ Council. We have found out that the Act allows us to register them.
“We hear that they claim that patients would have been healed by the ‘Holy Spirit’. We prefer that you tell them to continue taking their medication so that the two work together. Please do not stop patients from taking medication,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.
Rev Phumuzile Mabizela,director of Inerela, said anyone on any medication must run away when they hear pastors claiming that they will be healed by their faith.
“If anyone on life medication hears a pastor saying by your faith you are healed, dear, run away with your life. That is not true at all. They are lying to you. Rather pray that your medication works hand in glove with prayer and that the medication continues to work,” said Rev Mabizela at a workshop hosted by EHAIA in Harare in 2014.
The challenges the country faces currently with the procurement of second line anti-HIV drugs mount as foreign currency shortages grow.
The second line drugs in public institutions are dwindling with fears of drug interruptions among the users. In 2014, Dr Tapuwanashe Bwakura reported that a number of patients who defaulted had bangles with pastors’ names on their wrists. “The majority of defaulting patients have wrist bangles saying ‘I am a child of this prophet’ and this is disturbing,” said Dr Bwakura.Under normal circumstances hospitals and clinics give three months’ supply to people taking the medication, but of late people are getting a week or two’s supply.
Abacavir is the main second line drug used locally and has been in short supply. Jairos Tembo of Mabvuku, Harare, who collects his medication from the local clinic, said he first got a month’s supply and on resupply was given two weeks’ medication.
“I am worried my sister, last month I got a month’s supply, but right now I have been given two weeks’ supply. There is a possibility that the drugs are running out and may be given tablets to last a week very soon,” said Tembo.
This fear was confirmed by our sister paper The Herald early this week which stated that there was ARV shortage in the country.
Information gathered showed that Abacavir was in short supply resulting in patients getting a week’s supply.
National Aids Council’s operations director Mr Raymond Yekeye said the second line medication was being bought using funds from the AIDS levy.
NAC had budgeted $20 million for the procurement through the National Pharmacy. They have, however, not been able to do so due to foreign currency shortages. “We have not made any procurement since the beginning of the year because we do not have foreign currency to do so. Normally, we give a tender to the supplier and give them delivery schedules but this has not been possible this year and we are yet to make the procurement,” said Mr Yekeye.
Statistics show that about 35 percent of the estimated one million people on ART in Zimbabwe are on second line medication. Drug interruptions lead to drug resistance and if this is not taken care of the country will have more second line patients who need to be moved to the third line which is even more expensive.
A month’s supply of the second line therapy costs $100 to $150 a month and is out of reach for the majority.
The World Health Organisation warned of an emerging challenge in drug resistance. Zimbabwe is among the countries facing this new threat.
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