Kidney patient Jacqueline Baxter points to scars on her arm caused from dialysis treatment.
Denise Clarke, Staff Reporter
MANY PERSONS with serious chronic illnesses requiring expensive treatment have been excluded from the National Health Fund due to be launched tomorrow.
The fund will assist in the purchasing of drugs for 14 chronic illnesses but does not include HIV/AIDS and kidney disease, for which the treatment is highly cost prohibitive. The exclusion means that persons suffering from these two deadly diseases will have to continue to foot the bill themselves.
Executive Director of Jamaica Aids Support, Dr. Robert Carr, is concerned about what he calls the consistent disregard of persons living with HIV/AIDS from the much-needed assistance. Drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS cost between $5,000 and $10,000 monthly.
"We are mindful of the fact that the Government is wary of the cost implications of including HIV in the National Health Fund. At the same time, every time assistance for people with HIV comes up, it's consistently being left out," Dr. Carr told The Sunday Gleaner in a telephone interview. "For the majority of the people we serve, the cost of the treatment is very prohibitive, and we continue to deny them the right to get assistance from these programmes."
Dr. Carr noted that it has been proven that the spread of HIV/AIDS can be reduced with access to the anti-retroviral drugs, which are too expensive for most HIV/AIDS patients. He called on the Government to step in and take the initiative to assist with the treatment of the deadly disease, and warned that the Government cannot continue to skirt the issue. The disease has killed more than 3,000 persons since it was first discovered in the early 1980s.
FACE THE ISSUE HEAD ON
"We believe that the time is fast approaching when the Government will have to face the issue head on. The need is very real and the implications at the grassroot, level have to do with making a choice to sacrifice something and buying the medication or allowing a loved one to die...," said Dr. Carr. "We are looking for the Government to step forward to help this disadvantaged group."
Officials at the Ministry of Health could not be reached for comment as to why these diseases were omitted. However, one doctor speculated that the high cost of the drugs needed to treat these two illnesses is a major factor.
"We have to start somewhere and kidney disease is very expensive to treat, you don't want to drain the fund all at once," said Dr. Curtis Yaetes, Senior Medical Officer and head of the Dialysis unit at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St. James.
The NHF will assist in purchasing drugs for the treatment of arthritis, asthma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, glaucoma, high cholesterol, hypertension, heart disease, major depression, psychosis, rheumatic fever and vascular disease. Figures from the Ministry of Health show that more than 6,000 persons were diagnosed with different forms of kidney disease between 1997 and 2001. Treatment can cost up to $30,000 monthly.
"I suspect eventually the fund will develop and include these diseases," said Dr. Yaetes. "We have to remember that kidney disease is secondary to hypertension and diabetes, and a kidney patient is likely to have these two illnesses. So once you have tackled those illnesses you are also treating the kidney disease."
...Kidney disease patients left out in the cold
WHEN REGISTRATION for the National Health Fund (NHF) begins tomorrow, Jacqueline Baxter will not be among those registering.
It is not that she does not need the assistance. With more than $30,000 in medical bills each month and a serious chronic illness, she is in desperate need of financial help.
HAS THE WRONG DISEASE
Miss Baxter's problem is that she has the wrong disease kidney failure. The NHF covers arthritis, asthma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, hypertension, glaucoma, diabetes, major depression, epilepsy, heart disease, psychosis, rheumatic fever, high cholesterol and vascular disease.
Saddened and disappointed does not adequately describe how Miss Baxter felt when she learnt that kidney disease was not covered under the fund. The 38-year-old kidney patient barely manages to purchase the medication vital for her survival each month.
"When I realised that kidney disease was not on the list I feel bad," Miss Baxter told The Sunday Gleaner. "Our sickness is one of the most expensive ones. If I could get the help I would be very grateful."
The mother of a 15-year-old high school student is too embarrassed to say what she earns working at the office of the Kidney Foundation of Jamaica. She depends on her sister in the United States for assistance in purchasing the four different medications she needs each month, plus dialysis twice per week.
One of the drugs, brand name Eprex, costs approximately $3,500 for one vial. Miss Baxter needs two vials each week eight in one month. The other medicines cost approximately $6,500 combined each month. Dialysis treatment twice weekly to remove waste from the body, which the diseased kidney is unable to do, costs $1,000 for each treatment. Ms. Baxter is also on a continuous supply of vitamins.
"It's pretty hard on me," said Miss Baxter. "Even now I am running out of Phoslo and I am low on Rocaltral."
Tomorrow, 68 centres will open islandwide where persons can register for assistance from the NHF. The programme is expected to benefit an estimated 750,000 chronically ill persons. Those who qualify are required to make a 'small' co-payment for the drugs.
- D.C.
