West Bengal: HIV plagues Haldia Port Town

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HIV plagues Haldia with migrants flocking in

Statesman News Service

HALDIA, July. 22: Like any other port town in the country, the spread of HIV

virus has also become rampant in Haldia with a growing number of migrants coming

to the port based industrial town.

Aid workers and NGOs are working along with the government health set up to

check the rapid propagation of the deadly virus, but the response from the

locals has been satisfactory. According to the district health department, two

VCTC (voluntary testing and counseling centres) have been set up at the Haldia

sub-divisional hospital and Tamluk sadar hospital to properly guide the people

about the disease and how it spreads and to help them get over other taboos.

The statistics recorded by the health department revealed that four hundred and

twenty five people have turned up at the Haldia VCTC for counseling on the HIV

infection and the fatal AIDS so far.

Health officials report that the sub-divisions of Tamluk, Ghatal and Haldia have

a large concentration of HIV infection due to its large population of youths

working in Mumbai, Surat and the other cities of Western India. They contract

the disease while visiting the red light areas there and carry the virus back

home to their wives.

Haldia being a major port and industrial town, many is visited by outsiders and

people who indulge in unsafe sex. With a large number of truck drivers coming

from all parts of the country and numerous sex workers hailing from Kolkata and

nearby South 24-Parganas, this contributes in the proliferation of the disease

rapidly.

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