manufacturing

PATIENTS would get a better deal, doctors would earn more and medical aid schemes could save money if there were more specialised hospitals, the head of South Africa’s biggest medical scheme administrator, Discovery Health, said on Wednesday.

Hospitals that focused on specific areas of competence such as eye surgery or orthopaedics had much greater scope to reduce waste and cut costs without compromising quality, said Discovery Health CEO Jonathan Broomberg.

"Almost all of our specialist care takes place in acute hospitals that provide everything. Healthcare looks like manufacturing did in the early 20th century," he said.

PHARMACEUTICAL companies will be allowed to hike their private sector prices by up to 5.8% this year, the Department of Health announced on Wednesday, in a move that is likely to disappoint the local manufacturing industry.

Last year, Adcock Ingram CEO Jonathan Louw said local manufacturers expected that the formula used by the department would yield a price increase of about 7.14%, but added that the industry ideally needed a "close to double-digit increase" to counter the recent depreciation of the rand and the sharp increase in utility costs.

JSE-listed drug maker Aspen Pharmacare said the increase was disappointing.

The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is a global nonprofit health organisation that strengthens integrated health systems in the developing world and expands access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

South African drug development company iThemba Pharmaceuticals has devised a cheaper way to make the widely used AIDS drug tenofovir and had identified several promising treatments for tuberculosis (TB), Emory University’s Prof Dennis Liotta said yesterday.

US-based Emory is a minority shareholder in iThemba, which is controlled by the Technology Innovation Agency. Founded just over 10 years ago, iThemba secured a technology transfer agreement with Emory and biotech firm Chimerix to develop better HIV and TB drugs.

"We have had some starts and stops with iThemba but we eventually got off the ground and there are a couple of really interesting projects under way," Prof Liotta said in a telephone interview.

THE announcement by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Friday that the Department of Health is to embark on a joint venture to invest R1bn in the construction of a factory to produce antiretroviral ingredients is another example of the minister’s obvious commitment to improving the South African public health system.

The purpose of the joint venture with Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Lonza is to reduce SA’s dependence on imported drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS, while at the same time promoting domestic manufacturing. This is a prime example of state intervention in the economy as not only justified but necessary.

THE registrar of the Council for Medical Schemes, Monwabisi Gantsho, has criticised the head of the National Consumer Commission, saying she does not appreciate the complexities of the industry he oversees and should focus her attention elsewhere.

His is the third industry to cross swords with the commission, headed by Mamodupi Mohlala, which has already rattled the telecommunications and property sectors. More conflict is likely, as the commission is investigating the hospital industry, with work due to be completed in October.

Last week Ms Mohlala told a broker conference that a preliminary investigation into SA’s five biggest medical schemes found they were contravening the new Consumer Protection Act (CPA), and giving patients a raw deal.

AIDS researchers, many of whom have been meeting this week in Rome under the auspices of the International AIDS Society, are rightly pleased with the progress they have made. In particular, the use of antiretroviral drugs has not only revolutionised treatment of HIV infection, but also offers the prospect of stopping the spread of the virus. In a matter of weeks, these drugs reduce the number of viruses per millilitre of infected blood from millions to less than 50. That deals with both symptoms and infectivity.

A state-owned pharmaceutical company providing antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to South Africans is not a clear remedy for cheaper and more efficient manufacturing of the life-saving medication.

Pharmaceutical stakeholders and Aids activists question the decision by the ANC to instruct the Cabinet to create a state-owned pharmaceutical company.