Johannesburg - HIV-positive platinum workers who are on strike are at risk of failing to take their antiretroviral (ARV) drugs due to the dispute.
However, the Department of Health will look at dispensing their medication through public clinics when it has validated how many are defaulting.
Joe Maila, a spokesman for the ministry of health, said it would engage with the workers and their companies through the North West provincial department to see where it could step in to resolve the matter.
“If it’s true, we are extremely concerned because there are very unpleasant consequences when people default on treatment.”
He said the department was willing to provide a place for companies to drop off the ARV treatment packages of their workers, who could then pick them up from the department’s offices or clinics.
Maila said the department would also conduct follow-ups to determine whether there had been any defaults on tuberculosis treatment.
“Whether a person receives their medication from a private party or not, we don’t want them to default. We don’t want to go there, otherwise they will possibly develop resistance, which is what we don’t want,” he said.
This comes as more than 1 000 HIV-positive members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) are defaulting on their ARV treatment, according to a letter mining company Lonmin sent to the union.
In a written response dated April 9 to an Amcu petition, chief executive Ben Magara said Lonmin was helping its workers with housing, healthcare and HIV/Aids support.
“I would, however, like to bring to your attention that over 1 000 Amcu members who are on strike have failed to report to our clinics to receive ARV treatment. We are concerned that they are risking their health and their lives by interrupting their treatment and would like to encourage them to continue with it,” Magara said.
Amcu members at Lonmin, Impala Platinum (Implats) and Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) are in their 12th week of a wage strike that has threatened foreign earnings.
Implats said that, of its 4 001 employees receiving ARV treatment, 347 employees had defaulted on their treatment programmes and had been placed on the company’s critical care watch list.
“While we believe the number to be low considering the risks for default during a protracted strike of this nature, the potential impacts for these employees are profound and we remain resolute in our efforts to contact them to assist them where we can,” Implats spokesman Johan Theron said yesterday.
Implats employees use their discretion whether to register their dependants on the company’s treatment programmes. The company provided ARV treatment to qualifying family members who had been registered onto these programmes, he said.
Without giving details, Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said it had seen a spike in the number of employees missing their treatment for chronic diseases since the beginning of the strike.
She said the company had launched an ongoing internal communications campaign which urged employees to use the health facilities available to them. - Business Report