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Rivers State government has abolished service charges in its health facilities for persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to encourage HIV patients in the state to access treatment.
Governor Nyesom Wike said the state would take over the payment of the user-fees for those living with the virus in the state.
He made this commitment when a delegation of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) led by Dr. Tedd Ellerbrock and officials of the Institute of Human Virology of Nigeria (IHVN) visited him at Brick House, Port Harcourt.
Ellerbrock had appealed to the state government to take over the payment of user-fees for persons living with HIV/AIDS who need anti-retroviral treatment
“We will stop all fees collected as user-fees for persons under the HIV/AIDS treatment programme. This is our contribution to the partnership with the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. We will take over the payment of the HIV/AIDS user-fees for public health facilities in the state.
“The deputy governor will be in charge of the programme since she is a medical doctor. We are committed to working with the United States government to ensure we tackle this disease,” Wike said.
The governor assured the delegation that the state would support the efforts of the U.S. CDC and IHVN in their effort to drastically reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS across the state.
According to Ellerbrock, some 210,000 persons are infected with HIV/AIDS in Rivers, adding that only 40,000 among them are on anti-retroviral treatment.
He explained that the CDC was launching a new programme where 110,000 infected persons would be placed on anti-retroviral treatment to stem the spread of the disease.
“The U.S government is funding IHVN in this effort. It will be deeply involved in the 23 councils.
“We will deeply appreciate if you will help us with the user-fees. We have found that if there are user-fees, people are discouraged from coming forward to seek treatment. We are providing the anti-retroviral drugs and paying for the programme,” Ellerbrock added.
Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in the state had last week claimed that the demand for service charge by health workers was hindering HIV patients from seeking treatment.
The coordinator, Mrs. Emmanuel Josephine, said the charges ranged from N200 to N500.
