DOH-12 pushes opening of 3 more HIV/AIDS treatment facilities

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 12 is pushing for the establishment by next year of three more treatment facilities for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) patients.

Dr. Ali Tumama, DOH-12’s program manager for sexually-transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS, said they are currently finalizing the arrangements for the opening of a regional treatment hub and two additional satellite treatment centers for disease.

He said they have endorsed the establishment of the regional treatment hub at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Cotabato City and the satellite treatment centers at the provincial hospitals of Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato.

The agency opened satellite treatment centers earlier this year at the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital in Koronadal City and at the city hospital here.

“The establishment of the two additional satellite treatment centers has already been approved while the CRMC is due for assessment as a regional treatment hub next year,” he said.

Tumama said the two existing satellite treatment centers are being supported by the DOH’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

If it eventually passes the assessment, he said the CRMC treatment hub will have a separate allocation from the DOH central office.

Prior to the opening of the two HIV/AIDS satellite treatment centers, patients from the area received antiretroviral drug (ARV) treatments at the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.

ARV treatment mainly stops the multiplication of the infected person’s viral load and eventually prevents them from further spreading the disease.

In some countries, the use of ARV drugs has helped effectively lower the incidence of HIV infection to about one percent and eventually stabilized the detected cases.

Tumama said they pushed for the establishment of additional HIV/AIDS treatment facilities in the region due to increasing disease incidence.

As of September, the DOH-12 already recorded 186 new cases of HIV/AIDS, 166 of which were asymptomatic HIV infections while 20 have already developed into AIDS.

The new HIV/AIDS cases have so far brought the total cumulative incidence in the region to 551 since the first-ever documented case came out in 1984.

A total of 487 cases were asymptomatic HIV infections while 64 were at the initial to the late stages of AIDS.

South Cotabato, which includes this city, posted the most number of new HIV infections with 117, followed by North Cotabato with 24, Sultan Kudarat with 13, Cotabato City with eight, and Sarangani with four.

For the AIDS cases, South Cotabato also topped the list with 12, followed by North Cotabato with four, Sultan Kudarat with three, and Cotabato City with one.

A total of 21 deaths have been recorded in the area since 1984 due to various complications triggered by the disease.