The Hindu : New Delhi News : Training doctors to treat HIV positive patients

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 11, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Training doctors to treat HIV positive patients

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Professor Suzanne Crowe.

NEW DELHI, APRIL 10. Professor Suzanne Crowe is no stranger to India. The former president of the Australian Society for HIV Medicine, she has been actively involved in the development of Australia-India research links in the HIV/AIDS field since 1996.

Prof. Suzanne has been involved in the trainers' programme -- a training module for the doctors who treat HIV positive patients.

Prof. Suzanne conducted the first round of training herself and since then has been organising experts from Australia for the same.

The professor, who was in the Capital recently to flag off yet another caregivers programme, has initiated a programme to train doctors in six cities across the country including Amritsar, Kolkata, Lucknow and Dehra Dun.

Working in close collaboration with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) under its initiative to train all doctors to recognise and treat AIDS patients, Prof. Suzanne says that this latest programme initiated in the country will go a long way in providing good and correct medical treatment to HIV positive persons.

"One of the major challenges that the country is facing today is lack of well-trained doctors who can look after the fast growing large population of HIV positive people in India. We train doctors to help them understand, cope and identify the ailment,'' says Prof. Suzanne.

But the mission has yet another very fundamental aim, which is also perhaps the most important link in providing treatment to HIV positive people and that is identifying people who need Anti-Retro Viral Therapy.

"We have started training doctors in using a relatively inexpensive technique Cavidi Viral Load Test and CD4 tests to identify patients who need the treatment. And it is only a matter of time when we also begin going to rural areas to train doctors in using this important technique under the Australian-India programme conducted along with the Confederation of Indian Industries,'' says Professor Suzanne. "The Cavidi Viral Load technique is inexpensive and will also help decentralise the entire process of identifying people who need to be put on the therapy.''

Speaking about what is unique in the training offered by the group, Prof. Suzanne explains, "what we offer to the doctors is hands-on training in small groups which allows them more time to interact with patients and understand them and also learn to practice safety measures when treating a HIV positive person.''

According to the professor, it is ignorance most of the time that leads to doctors refusing treatment. "Most doctors remain nervous about treating a HIV positive person till they understand and know the right way to treat.

After that it is matter of just doing it right. India has a fast growing population of AIDS patients and it is plagued by the problem of not having enough doctors to treat person with the virus. With this new programme by NACO along with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, that should become a thing of the past.

What the country needs to do is to act now and make sure that good treatment is available to all who require the same. India has the drugs and the manpower all it needs it to train its caregivers and it is a task we are already at,'' says Prof. Suzanne.

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