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Mozambique: Garrido Denies Ordering Closure of Day Hospitals
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
28 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
Maputo
Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido has denied that he ever ordered the closure of the "Day Hospitals" which cater solely for HIV-positive patients, according to a report in Friday's issue of the independent weekly "Savana".
It has taken the Minister a month to deny the story, which first appeared in the 27 February issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias". The paper claimed that Garrido decided to close the Day Hospitals because he regarded such separate treatment as contributing to the stigmatization of, and discrimination against people suffering from HIV/AIDS.
"The Day Hospitals have no place in the structure of the Ministry of Health", said Garrido, as cited by "Noticias". Regardless of the beliefs of those who had set them up, they had become foci of discrimination against AIDS patients "and that's why I have decided to abolish them".
No letter from the Health Ministry denying this story appeared, and "Noticias" never published any retraction.
Furthermore the closure of the Day Hospitals seemed to be in line with Ministry policy. According to "Savana", NGOS that work on HIV/AIDS say that the decision to integrate anti-retroviral treatment for HIV-positive people into the normal services of the health units, rather than keeping it as something separate, was taken over a year ago.
Nonetheless, the "Noticias" story created some alarm among the patients who were using the Day Hospitals, who had not been prepared for any change in their method of treatment. Some told reporters they feared for their survival if they had to receive treatment from units not specialised in HIV/AIDS matters.
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Such concerns may have led to a quiet volte-face. For speaking to reporters last Tuesday, during an interval in a meeting of the Health Ministry's Coordinating Council, Garrido declared that he had not ordered the closure of the Day Hospitals, and that they are still functioning.
He added that all measures taken by the Health Ministry "seek to guarantee the well-being of patients and not to damage their interests".
PF/ (329)
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| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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