Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association (Johannesburg) - April 5, 2002
Departmental spokeswoman Joanne Collinge said a draft circular had been compiled, and was currently being discussed with provincial health departments. "We can't tell you anything definitive on that, but the process is underway and should be completed pretty soon," she said on Friday afternoon.
The circular had to be discussed with the provinces to ensure that the final product "suits their purposes", Collinge said.
Its aim would be to clarify to public hospitals and clinics how they needed to respond to the court ruling.
"We cannot give you any detail on that right now, but will provide a copy as soon as we can," she added.
The Constitutional Court on Thursday refused the government leave to appeal against a Pretoria High Court execution order demanding that it provide nevirapine in State hospitals with the capacity to do so pending the outcome of a further court hearing in May.
The court is to hear the government's main appeal on May 2 and 3 against a Pretoria High Court ruling that it put in place a plan to make nevirapine freely available.
Both high court rulings were made in favour of the Treatment Action Campaign, an Aids lobby group.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Thursday said the government would respect the Constitutional Court ruling, and indicated that all state hospitals and clinics should get a circular from Friday (today) on the latest developments.
Collinge said the circular would also explain what "capacity" meant in the context of the court ruling that nevirapine need only be issued by those public institutions with the ability to do so.
Asked whether the department would issue a list of all institutions with the required capacity for public information, she said: "Yes I think we would have to do something like that".
This was among the logistics that still needed to be worked out, Collinge said.
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