The City Hall of Zamboanga. (PNA file Photo)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – At least 10 persons every month are tested positive for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) at the government-owned Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC) Treatment Hub for HIV patients.
This was disclosed Wednesday by Dr. Sebar Sala, the ZCMC Treatment Hub officer-in-charge, whose facility conducts confirmatory tests on suspected HIV cases.
“We can immediately determine whether a patient is HIV positive or not,” Sala said.
In the past, he said “it takes months to know the result” since they had to send the specimen for testing to the Sexually Transmitted Diseases - Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (STD-AIDS) Cooperative Center Laboratory in San Lazaro Hospital.
Currently, Sala said they test five to eight suspected HIV patients daily at the ZCMC hub.
“We have the lowest number of cases in terms of positivity rate because we do not reach one patient per day,” Sala said without elaborating how many patients so far were confirmed positive for HIV.
He was also unable to disclose whether the patients that are under the care of the hub are from this city or nearby areas.
Still, Sala has appealed to the vulnerable population to submit themselves for HIV testing.
“HIV is not a death sentence, it is very important to get tested as early as possible because once we diagnose them, the progress of HIV can be prevented,” he said.
HIV is a virus that attacks the body's immune system and if not treated can lead to AIDS.
HIV treatment is available at ZCMC Treatment Hub where the HIV-positive may avail of the antiretroviral drugs for free. (PNA)
