Friday, March 9, 2012


May 6, 2010 | Email | Print | 


ART centre still a signboard unit in Balangir

Pioneer News Service | Balangi

Even as the Red Ribbon Express is ready to chug into the Balangir railway station on May 18, for the second time after 2008, to sensitise people about the causes and preventions ofHIV/AIDS, a large number of vacant laboratory technician posts in the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) adversely affect the detection of HIV positives in rural areas and further deprive them of getting their basic right to treatment. 

Besides the sign board proclaiming itself to be the Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre here, is yet to be functional. Ever since the commencement of the ICTC facility since November 2002, 300 people have been detected as HIV positives and as many as 39 people have died of AIDS.

The major reasons for the rising number of HIV positives in the district are large scale migration, ignorance, poverty, unsafe sexual behaviour and unsafe blood transfusion besides the use of intravenous drug.

Out of the 300 HIV positives as many as 52 people are undergoing ART treatment at Burla. “The ART treatment is given to a person whose CD 4 count is less than 250,” said CDMO PC Sahu.

However, we are getting reports that around 50 persons are not going to Burla for the ART treatment for various reasons, including financial, Sahu added.

After the Link Worker Scheme of Action AID, awareness among the people about the causes of HIV/AIDS has increased. A large number of people have been motivated to check their HIV status and people are encouraged to go for safe blood through the Community Red Ribbon clubs in the district here. 

The ART centre for Balangir has been sanctioned with a medical officer, laboratory technician and other staffs. So far, no appointment has been done in this regard and it is yet to be functional.

“We have nothing to say here as all the appointments are done by the State AIDS Control Society and on our part we have renovated a building recently,” said a medical staff here. The Government should take immediate steps to make the ART centre at Balangir functional soon which would save the poor HIV affected from further harassments, financial loss and other ordeals, opined an NGO activist here. =
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