Anti-retroviral unit in the wings

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Jan. 17: The district health authorities have planned to set up an anti retroviral therapy unit for HIV/AIDS victims at the blood bank in the Malda district hospital soon, the Malda chief medical officer of health said today. The ‘linked’ ART unit will benefit the AIDS/HIV patients, belonging to the poor families for free counselling and they will get medicines from here. The unit is a joint venture of the national AIDS control organisation (NACO) and the state AIDS prevention and control society, said Dr Radha Raman Banik, the Malda CMOH. Two trained doctors and others staff will attend the unit at the Malda blood bank for testing blood samples and they will attend the victims for counselling. The HIV/AIDS patients usually go to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Darjeeling district or the Kolkata School of Topical Medicine for treatment and collecting medicines. “After setting up of the linked ART unit here, the patients will have to collect medicines from either NBMC&H or STM, but from the next month when the victims will grow more weight, they will be get medicine from here for the next five months”, said Dr Banik, the Malda CMOH. “It will benefit the poor patients and they do not need to go to Kolkata or Siliguri for collecting medicines after the first month of treatment," he said. According to him, on an average more than 20 HIV patients from this district have to go to Kolkata or Siliguri for their treatment on a regular basis and they face problems because of transportation costs. “Many of them belong to poor families, had submitted a deputation to me pointing out their problems about transportation costs every six months for treatment," Dr Banik added. In Malda, many people, including women and pregnant mothers are carrying HIV/AIDS virus due to various reasons. Migrated labourers are also HIV affected. In the blood bank of the Malda district hospital, doctors are detecting blood samples infected with HIV/AIDS, which are being collected from the various blood donation camps. The health authorities discard these infected bloods secretly. “We cannot inform the candidates who donate blood in such camps and cannot pick up them for treatment due to technical problems and standing instruction of the authorities. If we do that, blood donation camp will be affectedly badly and we will face blood crisis in an emergency," Dr Banik said.