​Thembisa Shologu
The Department of Health has developed and is implementing a track and trace plan to locate TB and HIV patients that have defaulted on their medication since the 27 March 2020 lockdown period.
This follows an observation by the department which has seen an increase in the number of patients that have not collected their treatment. Approximately 1 090 TB patients failed to collect their medicines, while 10 950 patients have not collected their antiretroviral medicines, bringing the average percentage reduction in medicine collections for TB to 1.4% and 19.6% for HIV. 
"Through the Ward Based Outreach Teams (WBOT), patients are followed up and given their treatment. Those requiring follow up for blood tests are advised to report to the facility. On a daily basis, the WBOT verifies to ensure that those referred have indeed reported to the facility for their follow up. 
"This has exacerbated the loss-to-follow-up  rate of TB and HIV patients which has remained a challenge nationally since the beginning of the health programmes owing to a number of factors such as high mobility, incorrect and unreliable addresses due to fear of stigma around TB and HIV," said the department's spokesperson, Kwara Kekana.
The unavailability of medicines might lead to treatment interruption which subsequently cause drug resistance and deterioration of patients' health. 
"Patients that do not comply with treatment remain vulnerable and may be susceptible to other opportunistic infections; SARS CoV – 2 being one of them. 
"Lastly, clinicians may have difficulty managing patients with unsuppressed viral loads due to treatment interruption. Such patients may end up developing complications such as Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome  and many other illnesses," said Kekana. 
Meanwhile, with Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH) remaining one of the busiest COVID-19 treating facilities in the province, the department has put in some measures in place to ensure some of the critical services are rendered at other facilities in order to free up resources at the hospital.
However, Kekana noted that there were some  procedures that could not be done anywhere else except at CMJAH due to their complexities.