Georgia's Department of Public Health has received $3 million for the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

“We’re working right now to move about 277 people off the waiting list,” said Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Brenda Fitzgerald in a statement.

There are more than 1,700 people on the ADAP wait list.

“Georgia’s ADAP waiting list provides us a real-time measurement of need. We maintain the list, in part, so we can demonstrate what’s needed in Georgia when we seek additional federal funding.”

Fitzgerald said that 99 percent of those on the ADAP list receive their medications from pharmaceutical companies through the state’s Pharmaceutical Assistance Program.

The $3 million is supplemental Ryan White funding from the HHS Health Resources and Service Administration and is about four times larger than the $731,000 the state received in 2010.

The state's Department of Public Health is also working to help low-income people with HIV and AIDS to sources for funding for medications, similar to ADAP, but also provides physician care through a pilot program with the federally-funded Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program (PCIP).

Photo: Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald of the Georgia Department of Public Health. (file)