Mumbai: NACO team y to review facilities for AIDS patients

September 7, 2010

Naco team in city to review facilities for Aids patients

Sumitra Deb Roy, TNN, Sep 4, 2010, 03.31am IST

MUMBAI: Little seems to have been done in terms of infrastructure and facilities

to keep up with the increasing load of HIV positive patients in the city. The

main centres providing Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) cater to anywhere between

2,000-10,000 patients, with a staff strength of less than 30 in some.

Officials from the National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) are in the city to

review the patient care, support and treatment facilities here. In the past,

several HIV positive patients have expressed displeasure over the behaviour of

those dispersing drugs, counsellors as well as doctors. Many have also alleged

that discrimination is still rampant even in public hospitals.

Deputy director general of Naco, Dr Damodar Bachani, said that a meeting with

all zonal officers is scheduled on Saturday to discuss several issues, including

overcrowding of ART centres. " We need infrastructure to help the rapidly

increasing pool of HIV patients.

The increase is mainly because we are reaching out to more communities,'' he

said.

The team also visited the Gaurabai Hospital in Kamathipura that houses an

Integrated Centre for Testing and Counselling ( ICTC), apart from a dedicated

clinic for sexually transmitted diseases.

There are suggestions to convert portions of the hospital into a Community Care

Centre (CCC), which will have testing, counselling and ART facility under one

roof. The centre will function like a small hospital with 10 beds and treat

patients who complain of the treatment's side effects.

ities-for-Aids-patients/articleshow/6488587.cms#ixzz0ysYG3ef7

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