Government ready to issue AIDS drug tenders

SOUTH AFRICA: Government ready to issue AIDS drug tenders

JOHANNESBURG, 21 Feb 2005 (PLUSNEWS) - South Africa has completed negotiations with drug companies for supplying anti-AIDS drugs to public health facilities, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has announced.

The government short-listed eight drug companies last year, but awarding the state tender for the medicines has long been delayed.

Tshabalala-Msimang told reporters at the weekend in Cape Town that the drug tenders, initially expected to be granted in August 2004, would be awarded "shortly".

Reuters quoted Tshabalala-Msimang as saying, "It was a long process: we had to advertise; to short-list; to engage to make sure we were getting value for money, and I think that all those hurdles are now overcome."

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