'Ensure HIV victims are not denied treatment'

Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Selvamani R has directed the officials to ensure that HIV victims are not denied of treatment and facilities in the district. 

He was addressing a meeting convened by District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit on Tuesday.

He said a committee, under the chairmanship of the district health officer, should convene a meeting within a week and prepare report on measures taken to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. 

Representatives of NGOs working under District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit highlighted the unavailability of ‘Nevirapine’ tablets for HIV infected for the past four months.

The Zilla Panchayat CEO responded by promising to hold talks with the officials concerned immediately. 

List of infected

He directed the NGOs to submit a list of houseless and siteless HIV infected people in the district.

Housing facilities will be provided to HIV infected people under rural housing schemes. When the NGO representatives complained that HIV infected persons are not getting ration cards, the CEO asked them to furnish details about individual cases and promised to help HIV infected in availing ration cards and Aadhaar. 

Selvamani directed the officials to create awareness among migrant labourers and lorry drivers on the spread of HIV/Aids. 

He said that Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017 should be implemented effectively.

There are 6,000 HIV infected in the district. The details of all the patients who have been tested positive for HIV/Aids in private laboratories and KMC hospital should be furnished to District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit (DAPCU), he said.