Transcript:

Duration 3 min 47 sec

KHOPOTSO: A number of companies in South Africa, including Daimler-Chrysler and Anglo-American have already implemented AIDS treatment programmes in the workplace. And with Cabinet’€™s approval of a national Treatment and Care Plan, many workers who don’€™t currently have access to anti-retroviral therapy now stand to benefit. But Cabinet’€™s decision yesterday does not mean that the roll-out will be immediate, nor   will it be readily universally available. Liesl Gerntholtz of the AIDS Law Project says this still has implications for the business community.

LIESL GERNTHOLTZ -‘€œOne of the big issues I think companies need to think about is: What is gonna happen in the interim period before anti-retrovirals are available? What is gonna happen to people in your office who really need those drugs now? Because we know, though, they can do miracles many people take them too late. Their immune systems can’€™t deal with the side effects. They don’€™t reconstitute and people die. That is something, I think, that is going to be a big challenge because there are going to be a significant number of people who are going to need to take those drugs now. And they are not going to be available immediately.’€      

KHOPOTSO: Gerntholtz observed that Voluntary Counselling and Testing services in the workplace remains a challenge and a point of confusion. She said a lot of employers have closed down these services in the belief that they need permission from the Labour Court. Testing is vital in that it’€™s one of the first and most important port of calls in the line of confronting one’€™s HIV status.

LIESL GERNTHOLTZ ‘€“ ‘€œThere was a lot of confusion around the meaning of Section 7 of the Employment Equity Act, specifically insofar as it related to VCT as opposed to mandatory testing. There has been a recent judgement in the Labour Court that has clarified that, in fact, you don’€™t need to seek permission to conduct VCT programmes in the workplace ‘€“ that as long as the testing is voluntary, as long as it is supported by proper mechanisms to get informed consent and to offer pre and post-test counselling, as long as HIV test results are not available to employers ‘€“ there’€™s no problem with making those facilities available in your workplace.’€      

KHOPOTSO: She warned that with the advent of treatment roll-out will come by-products such as workers having to deal with side-effects caused by anti-retrovirals.  

LIESL GERNTHOLTZ ‘€“ ‘€œMany people take up to three months to recover from the side-effects. There are very practical issues around this: How are you going to manage someone who is ill, who is vomiting, who is fatigued, who is nauseous, who is on treatment, who is not gonna be able to do their job for three months?

KHOPOTSO: And then there is the issue of absenteeism.

LIESL GERNTHOLTZ ‘€“ need to sit in public sector hospitals that we know are ill-equipped to even hand out aspirin and anti-biotics?’€¦   They’€™re going to need to go there to access their drugs, and this means they’€™re going to be away from work for a day. I can’€™t imagine how anyone is gonna be able to go into the Johannesburg General Hospital or to Baragwanath ‘€“ two of the sites in Gauteng ‘€“ and be able to be in and out of there in an hour. It’€™s just not gonna happen. People are going to need to go and get their drugs, probably monthly’€¦ It’€™s unlikely that people will get three or four months’€™ supply at a time because there are going to have to be very strict controls in place to make sure people do adhere and comply with treatment regimens. So, there’€™s going to have to be some way of managing that because there’€™s going to be significant sectors of your staff who are going to have to be away for their monitoring, to get their drugs, to deal with side-effects.’€                    

KHOPOTSO: This is not all doom and gloom, though. However, it’€™s time for different sectors, including employers, to prepare for the challenge that lies ahead.  

LIESL GERNTHOLTZ ‘€“ ‘€œI think that we are finally at a place in this country where people have hope. We are standing on the edge of an enormous challenge’€¦ We will all have to account for what we did – what I did as a lawyer, what you did as business people, what other people have done as journalists and researchers ‘€“ we are all going to have to account for how we behaved in this epidemic. I think, finally, there are many opportunities for us to make a real difference’€¦ So, again ‘€¦ what are you going to be doing in your workplace?            

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