Patients without Aids will be crowded out of public hospitals and clinics and denied access to proper care in coming years, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has warned.
Speaking at a Social Aspects of HIV and Aids Research Alliance (Sahara) conference in Cape Town on Monday, the HSRC's Lebogang Letlape said the public sector needed a policy to determine how long people should stay in hospital and under what circumstances they should be admitted and discharged.
This was so that Aids patients, who were often sicker than others, did not take up all the beds and medical care.
One of the most shocking findings of HSRC research done in 2002 was that 30 percent of all the health facilities said they never stocked sterilising equipment and 59 percent that they never stocked HIV tests.
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| In 2007 there will be about half a million new Aids cases |
Only 65 percent of the hospitals said they had enough sterilising equipment most of the time.
Researchers had interviewed nurses at 222 private and public health facilities, 19 of which were in the Western Cape.
Medical records showed 46 percent of patients in public hospitals had HIV and Aids, as did 26 percent in primary health clinics.
Letlape said that four out of every five public health centres needed more staff to cope with the patient load.
The study concluded that patients and healthcare workers were at risk of contracting HIV in hospitals because of inadequate protection and inadequate infection control.
Most of the centres had syringes and needles, gloves and other protective clothing most of the time.
The study said a minimal control policy should be developed for healthcare facilities in South Africa, and compliance should be monitored.
With about five million people infected, South Africa is believed to have more HIV-positive people than any other country in the world.
It is estimated that in 2007 there will be about half a million new Aids cases, and half of these people will seek help in public hospitals and clinics.
- This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Times on May 11, 2004
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