DA questions out of stocks of HIV test kits

17 October 2018

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape will submit parliamentary questions to the MEC of Health, Fufe Makatong, to establish whether the challenges that resulted in an out of stock of HIV confirmatory test kits, has been resolved.

In June this year, the department reported in its First Quarterly Report for 2018/2019 that test kits were out of stock due to a delay by the national supplier. In effect, the department fell underperformed on the number of HIV tests done between April and June this year by 20 127.

This is not the first time that government HIV prevention programmes have been hampered due to stock outs.

Earlier this year, the DA exposed delays in the processing of condom suppliers that resulted in non-delivery of ordered condoms. Subsequently, this led to poor condom distribution across the province. In effect, the department underachieved on the number of male condoms distributed by the end of the third quarter of 2017/2018, by 1 643 million.

The failure to ensure uninterrupted supply of HIV test kits and condoms, is a massive service delivery failure on the part of the ANC government and cannot be tolerated.

The DA will submit questions to MEC Makatong to establish the full impact of the out of stocks, as well as to determine whether supply has been fully restored.

We cannot accept a situation whereby the failing ANC threatens to undo all the gains already made in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Only change under a DA-led government will ensure that HIV & AIDS programmes are effectively managed to ensure optimized access to prevention and treatment by all South Africans.

Issued by Andrew Louw, DA Northern Cape Premier Candidate, 17 October 2018