Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Thursday September 18 7:37 PM EDT
Charity officials said some patients were being denied life-prolonging combination drug therapies, others were being prescribed the drugs too late, and in many areas of the country an important viral load test that monitors the effectiveness of the treatment was not available.
They urged the government to set national guidelines on treatment to establish a standard of care across Britain.
"This situation amounts to a lottery of care for people with HIV," Derek Bodell, director of the National AIDS Trust, told a news conference.
Ian Kramer the deputy chairman of the UK Coalition of People living with HIV and AIDS said there was no longer any debate about the effectiveness of combination therapies so it was a scandal that some patients were still not receiving them.
"It means that hundreds of people will die much earlier than they need to. It is like condemning a small town to death. This kind of geographical lottery is totally unacceptable."
Kramer said HIV sufferers attending a British AIDS conference last week highlighted the disparity of care across the country and emphasised the lack of knowledge among health officials.
Doctors are not up to date with the latest developments and information and advice about new treatments are not available.
Some patients said they knew more about the latest drug combinations, which have delayed the onset of full-blown AIDS in patients infected with the HIV virus and improved the lives of many with the disease, than the people treating them.
HIV sufferers were also demanding a say in the decisions being taken that would influence their health and well being.
"People are becoming ill and dying as a result of this mess," said Jonathan Grimshaw, who chaired the AIDS conference.
"We need some kind of action to sort this mess out."
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