TAC calls for dismissal on Mpumalanga health MEC

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) on Thursday said it would train health workers in the Mpumalanga province in the administration of nevirapine after an investigation revealed that the provincial health department had failed to do so.

The TAC said the member of the executive council (MEC) for Health in Mpumalanga Sibongile Manana had flouted a Constitutional Court judgment on mother-to-child transmission prevention.

The judgment, which was passed nearly five months ago, ordered the government to make nevirapine freely available to all HIV-positive pregnant women in hospitals and clinics where HIV testing and counselling were available.

TAC alleged the Mpumalanga Department of Health had misrepresented the extent of the availability of nevirapine.

"The course of our investigation has revealed that at two formal pilot sites, Shongwe and Evader, no rollout has taken place. Even at these two pilot sites there are serious problems with implementation, because of a failure to train staff," the TAC said.

TAC's National Women's Health Coordinator Nonkosi Khumalo, told the UN news agency IRIN: "The TAC follow-up plan is to issue a letter to The Human Rights Commission (HRC) which notes negative responses from the MEC and also lists the grievances of doctors in the province."

"In the meantime the TAC will take on the task of implementing the necessary training of health workers, community-based organisations and NGOs in the province."

Meanwhile, The Star newspaper on Thursday said that millions of rands from the province's HIV/AIDS budget had been misappropriated.

The newspaper alleged that money has been spent on soccer matches, plays, prayer days. The health department claimed that the money was part of an AIDS awareness campaign

Mpumalanga has the second highest rate of infection in the country.