Liberty donates quarter of a million Rand towards HIV automated pharmacy dispensing unit

Liberty has donated a quarter of a million Rand to Right to Care (RTC) to help boost resources for quality patient care. The donation is towards the further expansion of the automated dispensing pilot, currently housed at the Thembalethu Clinic, one of the largest antiretroviral treatment sites in the country which is part of the Helen Joseph hospital in Johannesburg.

RTC is a non-profit organisation that delivers prevention, care, and treatment services for HIV and its associated diseases.

Steven Braudo, CE of Liberty Retail says, "We have recently entered into an association with RTC on our HIV solution which will cater to customers living with HIV. This financial injection is an extension of that partnership, and to ensure that the HIV treatment centre continues to improve its services, in particular, its innovative dispensing unit, which we know is already making a huge difference in the lives of ordinary citizens seeking medical care at the clinic.”

The automated dispensing unit is made up of a loading storage and dispensing system for medicines. A first in a public health facility, it was installed in October 2012 as a donation to the Helen Joseph Hospital from RTC using funding from USAID.

"Before the automated dispensing unit was installed, patients could wait for up to 4 hours to receive their medication. However, with the introduction of the unit, the average pharmacy waiting time has been significantly reduced to a minimum of 18 minutes per visit – a 13 fold improvement in terms of waiting times,” said Dr Thembisile Xulu, Executive Director of RTC and Managing Director of RTC.

The next development includes the use of district based Pharmacy Dispensing Units (PDUs) which are similar to ATMs. These will deliver drugs to patients 24 hours a day, with live support from RTC's call centre pharmacy.

"The plan is for patients to be able to obtain chronic medication closer to home at PDUs by simply using their South African bar coded ID or health card. This approach also includes a call centre system; a pharmacy management and data system which are all based in the cloud to manage these remote PDUs. The support of Liberty and other stakeholders will play an important role in developing and advancing this approach,” concludes Dr Xulu.