Catching HIV through unprotected sex once, an owner of a fashion shop in District 9 decided to receive consultation and treatment from PK Alocare medical clinic in District Thu Duc.
He also encouraged his sex partner to come to the PK Alocare clinic for Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) which is for people who do not have HIV but who are at very high risk of getting HIV to prevent HIV infection by taking a pill every day.
For seven years, PK Alocare has provided consultation and treatment for over 7,000 people who are gays, transgender, drug addicts and prostitutes.
Representative of PK Alocare Nguyen Minh Thuan said all members of the clinic are social workers who thoroughly understand HIV-infected people’s thinking; accordingly, the clinic tries to offer more treatment choices for people living with HIV.
First private clinic Glink in To Hien Thanh Street in District 10 is the first nonpublic medical center in HCMC has been given the green light to provide ARV for HIV –infected people who agree to pay for the drug to keep their personal data secretly.
Later, PK Glink also consults diet, psychology, prevention of opportunistic infection, an infection caused by pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi, or protozoa) that take advantage of an opportunity not normally available, such as a host with a weakened immune system, an altered microbiota (such as a disrupted gut microbiota), or breached integumentary barriers.
So far, 10 nonpublic medical clinics in the metropolitan city have been allowed to provide diagnosis and treatment of HIV in addition to tens of community organizations.
Furthermore, nonpublic Galant Clinic, the first of its kind, was allowed to provide ARV drug for insured people since March, 2019.
From 2014, the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention under the Ministry of Health called for social contributions in treating people living with HIV.
An estimated 10, 000 HIV-positive people are receiving treatment in medical facilities which help patients to have more choices in selecting their clinic, said head of the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention Professor Nguyen Hoang Long.
He added that people with HIV prefer nonpublic medical centers because their personal data are kept secretly and procedure is simple. Moreover, private facilities offer new and advanced treatment methodologies.
In the upcoming when international organizations gradually cut funding aid, participation of nonpublic medical facilities and community organizations will play a significant in HIV / AIDS prevention in Vietnam, said Professor Long.
