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Need for awareness of AIDS stressed

Special Correspondent

Anti Retroviral Treatment centre to be started in November, says Lakhera

Pondicherry: Lt. Governor M.M. Lakhera has urged entrepreneurs and corporate stalwarts to launch a concerted campaign against HIV and AIDS for heightened awareness among people about the disease. Inaugurating a one day conference on "Business Response to HIV/AIDS" organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with Indian Business Trust (IBT) for HIV and AIDS here on Friday, Mr. Lakhera said an antiretroviral treatment (ART) centre would be started in the government general hospital here in November.

Panel

A high-level panel comprising members of non-governmental organisations and industrial establishments would be set up soon to work out strategies to ensure that Pondicherry emerged an AIDS free State in the next few years.

Mr. Lakhera said that 200 out of the 500 AIDS patients in the Union Territory had died over the years. Preventive aspect of the disease should be concentrated on, he said. Mr. Lakhera lauded the efforts of the CII for launching a series of measures to address the issue and to spread awareness among people. He said business and industrial houses had the capability to operate such socially relevant schemes. Per capita expenditure incurred to prevent AIDS should also be raised on the part of the Government, he added.

The Chief Mentor of CII Tarun Das who highlighted the theme and purpose of the conference said that the CII had been holding such meets in all the regions in different cities and the Indian industry was coming together to deal with the problem of HIV or AIDS through acceptance, leadership and by joining hands in partnerships with the government, the non governmental organizations and other stakeholders.

Training

He said the organisation's activities in the response to AIDS included training of health professionals. So far 330 doctors from 13 cities had been trained as part of this programme since 2003. Furthermore, 300 nurses and lab technicians had also been trained. Chairman of CII (Pondicherry) C.S. Dwivedi said it was important for business and industry to support income generating activities for families of employees who had succumbed to the disease or were suffering from it. He also stressed that business houses should support focused research for prevention of AIDS. The Chairman of Sub Committee of CII, T.T. Ashok, also gave a power presentation on the theme.

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