A.I.D.S.-test charge upsets climes

Press, 19 May 1989, Page 1

A.I.D.S.-test charge upsets climes

By

SARAH SANDS

Christchurch A.I.D.S. clinics believe fewer people are having A.I.D.S. tests since laboratories started charging $ll for each test.

The clinics are angry that the Health Department will not pay for the tests when the department has stated that A.I.D.S. is its top priority.

The counsellor at the Ettie Rout Clinic, Ms Marie Glenys, said that a few weeks ago laboratories had started charging $ll for each A.I.D.S. test.

“They are doing this because the Government does not provide a laboratory benefit to cover their fee. All other tests such as

hepatitis B and cholesterol ordered by a doctor are covered by a Health Department benefit which pays the laboratory,” said Ms Glenys. Until recently laboratories had done the tests free as a public service but the number of tests meant they were no longer prepared to do this, she said. “There is now no place in Christchurch you can get free H.I.V. tests. If you go to a general practitioner you have to pay them, plus the $11,” said Ms Glenys. “It’s a lot of money for many people who are at risk such as drug users and the unemployed. Numbers presenting for tests

have declined and many people who have been into risk activities in the past have turned down tests because - they can’t afford them.”

The Ettie Rout Clinic usually did about 12 tests a week but last week did only four, she said. The head of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases (S.T.D.) Clinic, Dr Heather Lyttle, said the recent national A.I.D.S. com ference had expressed strong concerns about the department not paying for A.I.D.S. tests. “I feel that the Minister and people in the Health Department should be able to justify why they feel this test should not be subsidised when other tests are.”

The S.T.D. clinic could now differ tests free again as it had arranged for them to be processed at Christchurch Hospital, said Dr Lyttle. The numbers wanting tests had dropped dramatically because of the charge, she said.

“It seems very, odd that a department which has said that A.I.D.S. is one of its areas of concern in New Zealand should not subsidise this test.” A spokesman for the College of General Practitioners, Dr Ross Moon, said it was “quite unsatisfactory” that the Health Department did not pay for the A.I.D.S. test.