ZIMBABWE – HARARE – (THE HERALD) -ZIMBABWE’S leading medical aid service provider, Cimas has suspended its anti-retroviral drug facility because of foreign currency shortages.

Cimas spokesperson Ms Lindiwe Mhunduru said the company had stopped issuing ARVs because they were not available on the market.

"The inability to get hard currency to import ARVs has in part caused the disruption. Some of the drugs that are manufactured locally were in short supply and we could not buy the quantities we required. The local manufacturers were not producing the drugs because of the controlled pricing," she said.

Ms Mhunduru said foreign currency should not only be allocated for importing drugs but also to local manufacturers to ensure adequate stocks are available.

"We understand that medical aid societies and service providers have set up a task force which is preparing a paper detailing foreign currency requirements for pharmaceutical and other service providers to be submitted to the Government," she said.

Some members on the Cimas Chronic Disease Add-On Package said they were now required to pay cash for ARVs through medical aid pharmacies.

In the past, members on the CDA-O facility would book for their ARVs from Cimas’ selected pharmacies and collect their orders within a week.

"When I phoned the pharmacy, I was told that there were no drugs unless I had cash to buy the ARVs. I explained to them that I was on the Cimas CDA-O package but staff at the pharmacy said the facility had been suspended," said an HIV-positive woman who was accessing ARVs through the scheme.

She claimed that when she approached Cimas, she was told that the company had discontinued the facility because of foreign currency problems although it was still collecting contributions from members on the scheme.

Currently, ARVs cost an average of $1,6 billion but people on the CDA-O package were required to pay slightly below $1 billion.

However, in other instances, employers cover half of the amount with members paying at least $500 million.

"We never saved money to buy the drugs because we knew we were covered under the CDA-O. Cimas should have told us on time instead of accepting contributions under the package and fail to provide the promised drugs," said another member.

Cimas introduced the package to provide comprehensive cover for people living with HIV and Aids with members contributing an additional amount for ARVs to what is contributed through other packages.

The package would then make it possible for members to access ARVs and undergo viral load tests without drawing money from the annual cover