An HIV/AIDS organization has expressed fear that people living with HIV and accessing drugs from Public Health Institutions might be taking expired drugs.
The Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign has also insisted that people on HIV treatment are being rationed on drugs and given other temporal drugs.
In an interview with Phoenix News, TALC National Director Felix Mwanza who has called on government to recall such drugs has disclosed that some public health facilities are giving patients ARVS that expired on 30th November when their next clinical appointments extend to mid-December in some cases.
Mr Mwanza is shocked that authorities have refuted allegations that some public health facilities are rationing ARVS, giving extra drugs than usual there by increasing the pill burden on patients taking the medicine.
And an investigation by Phoenix News in some Clinics around Lusaka has revealed that some clients have had their drugs replaced with those on Zidovudine, Mamuvidine and Alluviar being given Zidovudine, Lamuvidine and Atazanavir, a combination which they say has side effects which include feeling nausea, diarrhoea and tiredness.
One of the patients, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity for fear of being denied access to drugs in future, said he is not willing to take the medicine anymore due to the previous side effects he experienced.
But when contacted for a comment on the matter, Ministry of Health Spokesperson Kennedy Malama says the replacement of drugs with a different type is not something unusual but can be done based on a number of reasons.