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'Aids figures may be worse than holocaust' - September 20 2001, By Patrick Leeman, Independent newspapers

If the shocking figures of Aids deaths at Durban's King Edward VIII Hospital are being replicated across South Africa, then the epidemic in the country is worse than any holocaust.
This was said at the Nelson Mandela Medical School at the University of Natal in Durban on Wednesday by Dr Elvis Irusen, of the department of medicine.
He was taking part in a panel discussion on the Aids situation in South Africa and a possible scenario in 20 years. Dr Irusen said that 5 360 people had died of Aids at King Edward Hospital between 1994 and 2000.
An idea of the scale of the epidemic could be gathered by multiplying this figure by the number of other Aids-related deaths in South Africa in the past six years.
He said more women patients than male patients had died of the disease at King Edward. The percentage of deaths from Aids was 73 percent of all the deaths in the hospital's medical wards in the period under review.
This percentage had remained above 70 percent for the six-year period, peaking at 79 percent of all deaths in medical wards in 1995. Dr Irusen said the epidemic was causing additional stress on the already-stretched medical professionals at King Edward. He said some of the data around HIV/Aids was inadequate because researchers were faced with working with "antiquated" equipment provided by government sources.
Professor Salim Karrim, deputy vice-chancellor in charge of research and development, said South Africa had already gained much information in the past 20 years. "We have enormous opportunities now to deal with the disease," he said. "What is missing is a national willingness and commitment to action."
The incoming head of the Victor Daitz Foundation chair for HIV/Aids at the medical school, Professor Jerry Coovadia, criticised the government for its lack of leadership in the fight against Aids. Coovadia said that, ideally, President Mbeki should take charge of a massive campaign to fight the disease. However, if he was too busy, he should appoint a "charismatic figure" to drive a campaign. Coovadia said it was not essential to use a health professional to drive such a campaign. In Thailand it was an economist and in Kenya it was an advocate.
At present 4,7 million were infected. Coovadia said the country could afford the cost of between R3 000 and R4 000 for treating each patient with anti-retroviral drugs.