BANGALORE: The Department of Prisons has requested Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Bangalore, to conduct a study among prisoners to ascertain the prevalence of HIV/AIDS cases in prisons and submit a report.

Additional Director-General of Police and Inspector-General of Prisons S.T. Ramesh told The Hindu on Saturday that the department had requested Ravi Kumar of KIMS to take up the study.

In 1994, Prof. Kumar himself had undertaken a similar study and found that nearly 2 per cent of under trial prisoners were suffering from HIV/AIDS. Since then, there had not been any comprehensive survey to ascertain the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in prisons, Mr. Ramesh said.

Counselling

With the threat of HIV/AIDS looming large over prisoners, the department had taken a series of measures to tackle the issue. Apart from a survey to identify such prisoners, the department had written to the Karnataka Help Promotion Trust, which was headed by an IAS officer, to send counsellors twice a week to the Central Prison in Bangalore, he said.

Mr. Ramesh said he had also written to the Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society to set up a voluntary counselling and testing centre in the prison that would comprise counsellors, laboratory technician and equipments. The society had indicated its willingness to set up the centre, he said.

The department had also requested the Regional Research Training Centre to train not only doctors and para-medical staff in dealing with cases relating to HIV/AIDS but also jailors, wardens, guards and superintendents.

This would enable the department to combat the threat of HIV/AIDS more effectively, he said.

Besides, people who had suffered from HIV/AIDS would be requested to counsel the prisoners, he said.

Nodal unit

Mr. Ramesh said the department had decided to set up an in-house nodal unit to monitor cases of HIV/AIDS. A woman doctor had been identified and designated as the nodal officer to monitor and coordinate all HIV/AIDS cases in the prisons in the State, he said.

The National AIDS Control Organisation had been requested to initiate its "unlinked anonymous surveillance" programme to cover the Prison Department. It would help the department obtain regular and updated data on HIV/AIDS, he said.

Mr. Ramesh said the department had identified nine care and support centres under KSAPS and 12 under NACO in the State to house terminally ill patients or those in the advanced stages of AIDS.

This would enable the patients to get regular treatment, he said.

Mr. Ramesh said that several other measures had been initiated to ensure that the department was prepared to tackle the menace of HIV\AIDS effectively.

More effective measures could be put into place once the survey was completed and the total number of HIV\AIDS prisoners enumerated, he added.

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