AIDS patients need care, love: Minister
PATNA: Agreeing to the fact that India today has the highest number of AIDS and HIV positive patients, state urban development minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Friday urged the society not to close doors on such people. Addressing doctors at the concluding ceremony of Module VI HIV-AIDS training programme organised by Regional AIDS Training Centre and Network in India (RATNEI) here, the minister said that factors like migration of workers, state’s geographical location along the Indo-Nepal border, poverty and illiteracy make Bihar a high risk AIDS zone. The minister said that it is the responsibility of doctors, para-medical staff and NGOs to make people, especially those hailing from the rural areas of the state, aware of AIDS. It is an uphill task and the government alone will not be able to achieve the desired results, he added. Through its various employment schemes like Swarojgar Yojana and Employment Guarantee Scheme, the state government is making sincere efforts to stop migration of workers, which, in the long run, will help check the spread of the dreaded AIDS virus, he said. Underlining the importance of safe sex, the minister urged the society to be sympathetic towards AIDS patients and advised doctors to provide them with all-necessary clinical care and love. Elaborating the aim of the five-day training programme, RATNEI coordinator and US representative of International Health Organisation (IHO) Jessica C Kraft told TOI that there was a need to remove the stigma and discrimination against AIDS and HIV patients.
Kraft said it was a capacity-building programme intended to create awareness among the common people through doctors. Replying to a query, she said south-east Asia, especially India, has all the elements of making it to a high risk zone and that’s why IHO had launched its AIDS flagship project here. Underlining the fact that prevention alone can check the spread of AIDS, Kraft said scientists are now coming up with drugs to cure the disease but they are still in a nascent stage. That apart, the cost often puts them beyond the common man's reach, she added.
PATNA: Agreeing to the fact that India today has the highest number of AIDS and HIV positive patients, state urban development minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Friday urged the society not to close doors on such people. Addressing doctors at the concluding ceremony of Module VI HIV-AIDS training programme organised by Regional AIDS Training Centre and Network in India (RATNEI) here, the minister said that factors like migration of workers, state’s geographical location along the Indo-Nepal border, poverty and illiteracy make Bihar a high risk AIDS zone. The minister said that it is the responsibility of doctors, para-medical staff and NGOs to make people, especially those hailing from the rural areas of the state, aware of AIDS. It is an uphill task and the government alone will not be able to achieve the desired results, he added. Through its various employment schemes like Swarojgar Yojana and Employment Guarantee Scheme, the state government is making sincere efforts to stop migration of workers, which, in the long run, will help check the spread of the dreaded AIDS virus, he said. Underlining the importance of safe sex, the minister urged the society to be sympathetic towards AIDS patients and advised doctors to provide them with all-necessary clinical care and love. Elaborating the aim of the five-day training programme, RATNEI coordinator and US representative of International Health Organisation (IHO) Jessica C Kraft told TOI that there was a need to remove the stigma and discrimination against AIDS and HIV patients.
Kraft said it was a capacity-building programme intended to create awareness among the common people through doctors. Replying to a query, she said south-east Asia, especially India, has all the elements of making it to a high risk zone and that’s why IHO had launched its AIDS flagship project here. Underlining the fact that prevention alone can check the spread of AIDS, Kraft said scientists are now coming up with drugs to cure the disease but they are still in a nascent stage. That apart, the cost often puts them beyond the common man's reach, she added.
Medical director of RATNEI Dr Diwakar Tejaswi said around 55 doctors from different parts of the country and neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka took part in the programme. He said doctors were informed about the latest available medicines for AIDS patients and also offered tips on how to help patients lead a normal life.
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