TAC, doctors take on Manto

2005-11-29 13:44

Cape Town - Activists and doctors are taking legal action to try to force SA's health minister to close down the operations of a German-born doctor accused of endangering Aids patients in one of the world's hardest hit countries.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) says Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang - known for espousing garlic and olive oil instead of antiretroviral drugs for people with HIV - has failed to protect public health by allowing Matthias Rath to push vitamin compounds as an alternative to antiretroviral therapy.

Officials of the Matthias Rath Foundation couldn't immediately be reached for comment Tuesday as TAC and the South African Medical Association prepared to reveal details of their lawsuit at a press conference in Cape Town. Tshabalala-Msimang has said the Medicine Controls Council is still examining allegations against Rath.

Rath, who is active in the poor townships of the Western Cape, has been criticised by the World Health Organization and the scientific establishment for claiming that his supplements cure Aids and that antiretroviral medicines are toxic. He has accused multinational drug companies of colluding to prolong the Aids crisis in the name of profit.

The activists say Rath's claims have sown huge confusion in South Africa, where an estimated 6.3m of the 47m population, are infected with HIV - the highest total in the world.

Five of Rath's patients dead

But the health ministry says there is no evidence Rath's activities have harmed public health.

A group of 199 medical practitioners recently signed an open letter to health authorities in the Western Cape pleading for action. They said that thanks to Rath's foundation, "our patients are being inundated with propaganda encouraging them to stop lifesaving medicine".

TAC said at least five of Rath's patients recently died after they heeded his advice and shunned antiretroviral therapy. They included Marietta Ndziba, who appeared at a Rath press conference in June.

Diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1999, Ndziba said that she couldn't talk or walk until she started taking Rath's compounds.

"After five days, something started to change in my body," the 29-year-old woman told journalists in June. "Now I can talk, speak and am not afraid of anything. I am so proud."

TAC said Ndziba died in October.

- AP