Orissa government has decided to provide pension to AIDS and HIV infected persons in the state. Widows and children of those who’ve succumbed to the dreaded diseases will also be eligible for the Rs 200 per month financial benefit.

The pension would be provided under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana, a scheme launched by the state government last month. This is perhaps first pension of its kind in the country.

“The state government’s move is an attempt to boost the morale of the HIV positive patients,” said Parameswar Swain, the project director of the Orissa State AIDS Control Society (OSACS) which had made a request to the government to include HIV patients in the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana.

In the first phase, 6,132 out of 8,200 HIV affected persons officially identified in the state, by the end of December last year, will be provided with the pension. The rest will subsequently be included in the list.
Of the total identified, 2527 patients belong to Gnajam district alone, the highest number of AIDS and HIV infected persons in the state.

NGOs have welcomed the government’s move but said that the pension amount should be more. “The state government should be appreciated for the move. But the pension amount is not enough. It should be more,” said S Mohanty of Lepra Society, a Bhubaneswar based NGO working for the AIDS victims and their families in different districts in the state.