Materia Medica Malaysiana

Cheaper 3-in-1 HIV treatment

KUALA LUMPUR: The cost of the three-in-one combination drug treatment for HIV-infected patients will be reduced to between RM200 and RM220 from this month compared to the current RM1,200.

Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said the cost reduction came after his ministry amended the Patent Act to enable the patented drugs to be imported from India.

“The Act comes under the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry and my ministry is allowed to amend it because the drugs are used for non-commercial purposes.

“With the cheaper cost, we can treat at least 4,000 HIV patients compared to the present 1,500. Patients who are entitled to free treatment are those infected after child delivery, infected children, health workers infected in the course of work and patients who were given contaminated blood products.

“To ensure commitment on the part of patients, they are required to buy one of the three drugs,” he said in an interview here.

Dr Chua said there were 58,000 HIV patients and another 8,000 AIDS patients in Malaysia and 93% of them were males.

He pointed out that the majority of them were aged between 20 and 39 and drug addicts, but the number of sexually transmitted HIV patients was on the rise.

“With 4,000 patients getting the three-in-one treatment free, Malaysia has abided by the WHO “three by five initiative” – that is providing the three-in-one drug treatment for three million patients by 2005,” said Dr Chua.

In another development, the Health Minister said the Government was set to achieve a maternal mortality ratio of 10:100,000 births by the year 2020.

He said the current ratio was 30:100,000 against 530:100,000 at Independence, attributing the tremendous improvement to the Government’s commitment and priority for good healthcare services.