Harvoni for foreigners in Mongolia?

[JoeR5150]

I received two back-to-back "not-detected" results after 6 months of Interferon and Ribavirin treatments. A month off ot treatment, I tested again, and the virus had come back in a big way (based on viral count).

I am currently in China, a country that does not have access to Harvoni, but I understand that there is inexpensive availability of Harvoni in Mongolia, a country that I have also worked in before and could again. My question is: If I went back to work in Mongolia, would I be allowed to get on the treatment at the same price as Mongolian citizens? The plan by my doctor here in China is for me to stay on Interferon/Ribavirin for another 11 months, but I don't think I can maintain my job that long with all the debilitating side effects that I suffered through last time.

Any info regarding my question about availability of Harvoni in Mongolia for foreign workers would be appreciated.

Joe

[OdinLovesLife]

Just adding that I am not sure how much you already know about disease progression, tests, and treatments. If your are just getting started, there is a wealth of information and advice here and elsewhere now.

My personal take on this is that the information provided by local authorities and medical practitioners is managed according to a message which may not always be in your best interests. Local policy decisions about medical treatments are driven by cost and "standardised care" practicalities. Better to be capable of reading between the lines.

Call out and people will help you get your head around the basics. Get good advice from a specialist, it is essential, but do as much research as you can yourself to sanity check the advice and be capable of making an informed decision both about the skills of your specialist and the treatment.

Sounds like you are already on the right path.

Wish you all the best.

[OdinLovesLife]

Hey Joe, no idea about Mongolia. Wow! We can't get Harvoni in Australia and they are still flogging Interferon here too. I went for a clinical trial so that I could get better treatment and avoid the cost.

I guess price is the reason you want to go to Mongolia for treatment? I don't know the status there but I reckon you would at least have to get permanent residence would you? It would be hard for any  government to afford to treat people on temporary work visas as well as citizens - even if they have some deal to get Harvoni more cheaply than other countries.

Do you absolutely need to treat right now due to poor liver condition? If not, maybe you can take a breath or two and give yourself time to survey more options. If you absolutely have to take Interferon again for some reason (unlikely these days) and it didn't work for you the first time, you would want to be really sure something was different and better about how the second treatment was approached. Otherwise it could be a complete waste of time. Do you know why the first time failed?

There are multiple much better treatments available, trials for even better drugs. If you are prepared to move to another country already my suggestion would be to investigate more options rather than losing your job to IFN.

[patra_]

Based on the lack of responses, I think we are all saying that we just don't know the answer to your question.  I'm sorry.

Have you looked for a web address for the Deartment or Ministry of Health in Mongolia?  If you can, you might get an e-mail address or a phone number, to ask them.

Good luck and Blessings.

Pat