Can NACO change guidelines on accccepting test results from outside' sources ?

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

I am really upset with the issue of lack of HIV testing kits in the

Government hospital in Sangli. This has become an endemic problem.

We have a list of seven PLHA who will loose their life because ART will not be

given to them. The Civil Hospital doctors are willing to go the extra mile and

accept tests conducted `outside' by private practitioners but MSACS will not

allow them. They are allowed to start ART only if the VCT center in the civil

hospital gives them a positive result. And the VCT center has no kits.

SANGRAM found that the CD4 unit in the Sangli civil hospital has seven lakh

rupees which it cannot use to buy HIV testing kits. The hospital also has funds

to the tune of one crore in the PLA account but the Dean cannot use it to buy

HIV testing kits. MSACS will not allow it.

What are we to do? Will MSACS help us fight this epidemic? Can NACO change its

guidelines to save people from dying?

In solidarity,

Meena Saraswathi Seshu

e-mail: san_meena@...