HIV-positive patients and AIDS activists yesterday urged the Department of Health (DOH) to relax rules on prescriptions so that they could receive medical treatment more easily.
“It has taken the government too long to introduce new drugs for HIV-positive patients. My life has been put at risk while waiting for new drugs,” said one patient who wished to remain anonymous.
The patient said he was diagnosed with HIV 10 years ago.
The Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association of Taiwan made the plea at a press conference yesterday morning when it released the results of a poll on the medical treatment HIV-positive patients have been receiving.
The poll was conducted among 1,058 HIV-positive patients.
The most significant issue raised by the poll results was that approximately 69 percent of respondents said they have never taken drugs for their illness.
“The DOH’s strict prescription policy for HIV-positive patients is the main reason,” association head Yang Hui-chung (楊惠中) said.
DOH regulations state that medicine will not be prescribed to HIV-positive patients while their “cluster of differentiation 4” (CD4) count is higher than 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood.
But Yang said Taiwan should follow the WHO’s recommendation and provide patients with the therapy earlier, at 350 cells per cubic millimeter of blood.
CD4 is a glycoprotein that makes up part of the body’s immune system and is a receptor for HIV during the development of AIDS in humans. CD4 tests are used to assess the state of a patient’s immune system.
Yang said the poll also reflected that the three major kinds of drugs used to treat HIV-positive patients did not work well, that many of them have been suffering from serious side effects and that some patients have been exhibiting signs of drug resistance, while others said the drugs had no effect at all.
Also yesterday, the Taiwan Lourdes Association — a Catholic organization serving people living with HIV/AIDS — called the authorities’ attention to the long-term care for HIV/AIDS patients, saying antiretroviral therapy has helped prolong the life of these patients.
Because of their weakened immune systems, many HIV-positive individuals also suffer from other chronic diseases such as hepatitis, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic arthritis, depression and human papillomavirus infection, the association said.
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