According to calculations of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) in Peru, there are around 50,000 people in treatment for HIV, but there are possibly 20,000 others that don’t know they are positive for this virus.
The information was given by Patricia Segura, head of the Directorate of HIV-AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Hepatitis of Minsa. “The figures of the entity reveal that, in the first quarter of this year, 863 new cases of HIV have been diagnosed in hospitals in the sector. The largest number of patients are in Lima, Callao, and Loreto”, El Comercio informed.
In 2017, the Ombudsman’s Office issued a report requesting the Health sector to catalog patients with HIV as a vulnerable population so that they can directly access the SIS (Integral Health Insurance).
The SIS allows people who are HIV positive to have permanent and free antiretroviral treatment, and also access other hospital services for the condition of their disease. Without proper treatment, a virus carrier can develop the syndrome of acquired immunodeficiency or AIDS, which is the set of clinical manifestations that affect the immune system to cause death, according to information from El Comercio.
“According to the commissioner of the State Administration, Carlos Arévalo, the Law of Universal Assurance does not qualify HIV patients as a vulnerable population, since there is no provision of legal status or a supreme decree that provides it so.
For Patricia Segura, giving direct access to the SIS to these patients is one of the objectives of the sector that is still in the process of materializing.
