More than 1500 Congolese and 400 South Sudanese nationals living with HIV Aids are unable to access the life-prolonging Anti-Retroviral drugs from Arua Regional Referral Hospital in the West Nile Uganda district of Arua because of the Corona Virus lockdown.
The Congolese and South Sudanese nationals are part of 6700 HIV clients who have been receiving ARVs from the hospital on a monthly basis.
However, due to the closure of Uganda’s border to contain the spread of the Corona Virus pandemic, clients from DRC and South Sudan have been stopped by the hospital authorities from coming for treatment.
Dr. Philbert Nyeko, Director Arua Regional Referral Hospital has also turned down a request by the ART Clinic to deliver the drugs to their clients across the border, saying it is only the president, Yoweri Museveni who can authorize the request.
A health worker in the clinic told our reporter on the condition of anonymity that the majority of the Congolese nationals who are on second-line treatment wanted the ARVs delivered to them because they are not available in their country.
Information from hospital sources shows that due to the high demand for ARVs in DRC, some Ugandan clients have resorted to smuggling part of their drug allocation to their Congolese counterparts through the porous border points.
The failure by the Congolese and South Sudanese nationals to access the ARVs on time has the potential to affect negatively the fight against HIV/Aids as they are likely to develop drug resistance.
Contributed by Ahmed Wetaka, Kampala-Uganda
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