Kerala - Kochi   

Anytime Condom machine starts functioning at Kaloor

Special Correspondent

A packet of two condoms for one rupee

KOCHI: The first of the 25 condom-vending machines proposed to be installed in the city started functioning at the Kaloor private bus stand on Thursday.

The `Anytime Condom' machines, which provide a packet of two condoms for one rupee, is part of the Kerala Condom Promotion Project that aims to check the spread of HIV infection by promoting condom use. Under this project 100 condoms machines are being installed in the State — 25 each in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode and 25 in other places. The project is run by the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Trust, with support from the Kerala State AIDS Control Society and other agencies. The `Anytime Condom' machines, first installed in the State at Thiruvananthapuram, have drawn flak from some religious organisations.

Kochi Mayor C.M. Dinesh Mani, who inaugurated the functioning of the machine at Kaloor, said the rest of the 25 machines would come in due course.

He noted that HIV infection was on the rise in the State and pointed out that use of condom was the only preventive step against it. He said the city was growing at breathtaking speed and in the next ten years the health scene would be drastically different.

P.K. Sivaraman, District Medical Officer, who presided, said there were roughly 2,000 AIDS patients in the State, but the actual number could vary. (The official estimate of those living with HIV in Kerala ranges from 70,000 to 1,00,000).

S.K. Harikumar of the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust said the condoms supplied through the vending machines were of high quality and that the price subsidy by the Central Government made it possible to supply them at Re.1 for two pieces. More vending machines would be installed at railway stations, bus stands, comfort stations and phone booths so that condoms would be easily available.

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