ARV over-the-counter ruling welcomed by Pharmacy Council
The South African Pharmacy Council says a court ruling on the medicines dispensing process will help relieve congestion in the healthcare system.
Pharmacists have been given the green light to prescribe certain over-the-counter meds like ARVs without a doctor's script.
This means it will be easier for patients living with HIV to get antiretroviral drugs or those who are HIV-negative but take a daily prevention pill to get the medicine without a prescription.
The High Court in Pretoria recently gave the go-ahead for specially trained pharmacists to initiate and administer anti-retroviral therapy to patients.
However, the pharmacists must have a special permit to disperse the Schedule 4 medication, which, according to South African law, should only be prescribed by a doctor.
In a statement, the Pharmacy Council said the programme has already been successfully implemented in other countries and will help South Africa reach its HIV management targets.
It believes the programme will also help ease the burden on the country’s congested healthcare system, allowing patients who are diagnosed the opportunity to be initiated sooner.
According to Statistics South Africa, over 8.45 million people are HIV positive, while only 6.11 million are on antiretrovirals.
