Free AIDS drugs at J J Hospital

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Free AIDS drugs at J J Hospital

Three other city hospitals will become part of Central effort

Aparna Narayanan

Mumbai, June 1: TWO junior doctors, three social workers and five

patients cluster around a pink-topped table at J J Hospital. The

room, with peeling walls and a leaky tap, is unassuming.

The business—an exchange of files, a chest x-ray held to the light—

seemingly mundane. But the silver strips of medicine given to the

patients represent a benchmark in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Since April 1, patients at J J Hospital and a handful of select

centres across the nation have been getting free anti-retroviral

therapy—for the first time in India. The drugs are essential to

prolong their lives and improve their quality of life.

The initiative will eventually be expanded to K E M, Nair and Sion

hospitals, according to Alka Gogate, project director of the Mumbai

Districts Aids Control Society in Wadala.

The society, part of the National AIDS Control Organisation, is

responsible for the free anti-retroviral programme launched by the

government of India in five states with high HIV prevalence—

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur.

While the treatment has been available in Mumbai before April, the

cost—Rs 1,602 for a month's supply of one regimen—deterred most

patients.

One of the patients at J J Hospital said he had purchased anti-

retroviral drugs for two years, but only intermittently because the

price was prohibitory.

``Sometimes I did without medicines for two to three months,'' said

a 34-year-old man from Bhiwandi, declining to be named. He added he

then suffered from high fevers and weakness. Now Dr Alka Despande,

chief of medicine at J J Hospital, describes the programme as ``very

significant''. ``Being a doctor, it was unbearable to see my

patients suffer without a treatment,'' she says.

Approximately 65 patients have started receiving free anti-

retroviral therapy at J J Hospital since April 1.

Another 500 are on the waiting list.

Expanding the programme to include more patients takes time because

the use of anti-retrovirals requires extremely strict monitoring of

each individual.

aparnanarayanan@...