Private Hospitals to set up counselling and testing centres

[Guest guest]

Private players board AIDS-control bus - Hospitals to set up counselling and

testing centres to combat

spread of disease

UMANAND JAISWAL

Guwahati, Nov. 11: Candlelight processions, meetings, seminars,

awareness drives. The State AIDS Control Society has done all this

and more, but now in its effort to fight the spread of the disease,

the society has decided to take the private sector on board.

A senior official of the society today said the autonomous body, of

which the state health minister is the chairman, has zeroed in on

five private hospitals to set up an integrated counselling and

testing centre. The centres are expected to be functional by November-

end.

Of the five hospitals shortlisted for the pilot project, three are in

Guwahati and one each in Tezpur and Nalbari. Training of doctors and

support staff, who will be manning the centres, has been

complete. " The centres will become operational once the memorandum of

understanding is signed. Some of the hospitals have signed and the

others will sign in the next couple of days. After all, we need to

join hands with the private sector for the AIDS control programme, "

the source said.

Though the centres will try to counsel and seek consent of all those

who are in the high-risk group to go for testing, the focus will

mainly be on pregnant women to prevent transmission of the disease

from mother to child.

Sources said the mother-to-child transmission is a major cause of

worry because in the state government hospitals alone more than 30

pregnant women have tested positive for HIV in the past two years.

Gauhati Medical College and Hospital leads the tally with more than

20 cases, HIV positive cases have also been reported from Assam

Medical College, Nagaon, Tezpur and Bongaigaon. There are more than

2,000 HIV/AIDS cases in Assam.

" The main reason for focussing on pregnant women is that more than 50

per cent of them visit private hospitals for consultation or delivery

and this is where the private sector can help them in fighting

against the disease. They can counsel the women about the disease,

motivate them to go for tests, which remains voluntary, and if they

test positive go for delivery in the hospital itself. They will also

be counselled on the timely intake of medicines to prevent the

transmission of the disease to the child. Ideally, all mothers should

be counselled and tested, " the source said.

The society will provide testing kits and also impart free training

to the hospital staff. Free medicines will be distributed to those

who test positive and the hospital staff will also be provided with

post-exposure medicine.

On its part, the hospitals will record and report the cases according

to the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) guidelines. The

hospital charges will also be less than the market rate.

Besides bringing more private hospitals under its fold, the state

society has set a target of having such centres in 12 government-run

community health centres and 50 public health centres by this fiscal.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071112/asp/northeast/story_8536881.asp