Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang says her department is working hard to implement the Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and Aids.

The minister was speaking in Cape Town during the Parliamentary Media Briefing Week, which started today.

"We are working hard to implement this plan, while expanding on the prevention strategies that remain the mainstay of our response to HIV and Aids," she said.

The treatment plan aims to provide comprehensive care and treatment for people living with HIV and Aids, and to help strengthen the country's national health system.

Minister Tshabalala-Msimang said the identification of a service point in all 53 health districts in the country was central to the implementation plan as a service point was not a stand-alone hospital, but included a network of facilities providing various elements of comprehensive care.

She said accreditation teams were currently on the ground assessing capacity in 120 facilities around the country and have covered almost two thirds of those.

"The procurement of necessary drugs at the best possible prices is also critical to the sustainability of the programme," she said.

"In addition to quality and good prices, our concern is to ensure a completely reliable supply of anti-retroviral drugs and medicines required for the Comprehensive Plan," said minister Tshabalala-Msimang.

She said the department would from next week invite interested pharmaceutical suppliers, through notices in newspapers and government bulletins, to indicate their interest in supplying drugs for the programme.

The minister said proposals would then be evaluated and short-listed and qualified suppliers would be invited to tender for the contracts. –BuaNews.