The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : “Comprehensive care offered to HIV-positive people”

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Friday, Dec 21, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

“Comprehensive care offered to HIV-positive people”

Special Correspondent

Principal sponsor of State’s fight against AIDS reviews projects

— Photo: A. Muralitharan

On a mission: Chair of the Board of The Global Funds Rajat Gupta (left) and Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine looking at the facilities at the GHTM, Tambaram Sanatorium, on Wednesday. Supriya Sahu, Project Director, TANSACS, and S. Rajasekaran, GHTM Superintendent, are in the picture.

TAMBARAM: Lauding the initiatives of the State Government in reaching out to people with HIV/AIDS, senior executives of The Global Funds to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said private institutions and hospitals should be given a greater role.

The Global Funds is the principal sponsor of the Government of Tamil Nadu in its efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. On Wednesday, Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director, and Rajat Gupta, Chair of Global Funds, visited the Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine (GHTM), Tambaram Sanatorium, to review the functioning of some of the works that the agency had funded.

Supriya Sahu, Project Director, Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society; and S. Rajasekaran, Superintendent, GHTM; took Mr. Michel and Mr. Rajat Gupta around the facilities. Ms. Sahu made a presentation on the current scenario of HIV/AIDS in Tamil Nadu and the State Government’s efforts in tackling it.

“Impressive facilities”

Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Michel said facilities in the hospital were impressive. “The care offered here is comprehensive and the dedicated medical team offers counselling at each step,” he said. In many parts of the world where Governments were combating HIV/AIDS, funds were available but workforce was a scarcity, but in India, particularly Tamil Nadu, an adequate number of trained personnel was available to reach out to the affected population.

The real challenge was to reach out to those affected people who were ignorant of their condition, Mr. Michel said.

On the scope for improvement, Mr. Rajat Gupta said private institutions and hospitals in the State should be made to play a greater role in this task.

Mr. Rajat Gupta said a good number of people, including pregnant women, who received initial treatment at government hospitals for HIV/AIDS, later got themselves admitted to private hospitals and it was not possible to track them down. Hence, the need for roping in private hospitals in HIV/AIDS care.

During her presentation, Ms. Sahu said The Global Funds contributed 57 per cent of the financial assistance the State Government received in its fight against HIV/AIDS.

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