Community activists warn of shortage of preferential drugs for HIV patients

The drugs purchased by the Ministry of Health for HIV patients in the first half of the year may be enough for only 77% of patients, said the Treatment Preparedness Coalition, writes Kommersant.

Thus, more than 66.4 thousand people with HIV status may face a shortage of drugs, the first supply interruptions are expected in the fall, the organization warned.

The Ministry of Health for six months, according to the Headway Company, spent almost 26 billion rubles on the purchase of HIV drugs, which is 10% more than a year earlier. Most of the purchases fell on expensive original drugs (their costs increased by 45%). At the same time, the total number of purchased annual courses of therapy fell.

As calculated by Kommersant, in the first half of 2020, the department purchased 450-500 thousand courses of therapy, and this year – only 300-350 thousand. According to the Coalition for Treatment Preparedness, the deficit is 111 thousand courses – for them it is necessary to allocate another 6 billion rubles from the budget. At the same time, the money allocated for these purposes this year has already been spent.

The Ministry of Health did not respond to the publication’s request for a possible allocation of funds. According to Rospotrebnadzor in June, 768.7 thousand Russians are registered for HIV. For six months, 80% of patients received treatment, it was effective in 344.6 thousand people. The head of the Federal Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, Vadim Pokrovsky, said that about 300 thousand more people know about the diagnosis, but do not register.

With the provision of HIV patients with drugs, everything is fine, since the Ministry of Health regularly holds competitions, not only federal purchases, but also regional ones, Igor Pchelin, head of the Shagi AIDS Foundation, told The Insider. “It is not clear where this information comes from. [о дефиците]… Regions are secured, there are reserves [препаратов]… If there are any nuances, then they are not systemic, but personal [характер]… And we analyze this for each specific case, ”he said.

Pchelin called the data of public figures about a possible shortage of drugs for people with HIV status as rumors that “are not based on anything.” “If some bidding had failed, if funds had not been allocated, then yes. It is difficult to comment and argue when this is just dry information and is not confirmed by any data, ”he said.

At the beginning of July in the AIDS.Center Foundation statedthat Russians with HIV are massively denied coronavirus vaccinations. Of the 700 patients admitted in June by one of the doctors at the Moscow Regional Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, 30 reported that they were denied vaccination points due to HIV. clarified RBC director of the fund Sergey Abdurakhmanov. The representatives of the center sent a complaint to the head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko.