Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

A positive initiative brings happiness to them

VIJAYAWADA: It was a unique gathering at the Government General Hospital’s (GGH) new campus on Tuesday where a select group of audience lent a patient hearing to brief speeches by officials, who repetitively induced courage and confidence among the listeners.

It was the second anniversary of the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre set up at the GGH on this day in 2004, with the aim of providing medical and emotional succour to the burgeoning number of HIV positive patients in need of help.

“It is heartening to see happy faces around. You all do not look like patients any more, as the emaciated look is gone. Now that the facilities to treat HIV patients have been made available in the hospital, we want people to make use of it for their treatment,” said hospital Superintendent Prasanna Kumar.

Resident Medical Officer Shalini Devi urged the ‘positive’ people to make others aware of the advantages of the treatment. She said efforts were on to further develop the centre by seeking additional staff and improving infrastructure facilities.

To celebrate the occasion, a cake was cut and distributed to the people in the vicinity. The Superintendent gave the first pieces to the first male and female HIV positive victims treated by the centre.

“I was distressed and financially broke when this centre came into existence. My CD4 count was 41. Prompt use of medicines for a year raised my CD4 count to 486. In a fresh test last week, I registered a CD4 count of 571,” said the male patient, explaining how important it was for an HIV patient to take medicines regularly. He owns a workshop in Autonagar and spent in vain nearly Rs. 2 lakhs for treatment at different places. “Now, I’m leading a happy life and working here in the hospital. I feel a sense of satisfaction in educating people like me about the banes of the virus,” he said. The female patient, who is on ART for over three years now, said she could save the money she had been spending for treatment of the virus earlier. Close to 10,000 HIV +ve people have enrolled for treatment at the centre. The officials at the centre said the number of patients on treatment had been steady, which was a worrying factor.

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