Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

Staff shortage at ART centre

Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

A view of the ART centre on the GGH premises in Guntur. —

GUNTUR: Fighting back tears welling up in her eyes, 28-year-old Saraswati wants to know whether the condition of her husband has shown any improvement since he has been on the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) for last one year.

She is slightly relieved when senior medical officer Sridevi told her that the CD4 count, which measures the progression of the HIV infection and the strength of immunity system, had improved from just 90 to 200 cells/mm.

She is one of the scores of HIV-infected persons thronging the new ART centre, a vital clog in the treatment and management of HIV/AIDS, located in the new Gynaecology Block on the GGH premises. Some 19,351 persons have registered themselves at the ART centre, the lone facility in the district. Of them, 4,918 persons, including 267 children, have been on ART.

Depending on the nature of infection, the affected persons are being given baseline drugs and alternative regimen if they are infected with HIV/TB. This is the biggest of the 24 ART centres in the State and attracts scores of infected persons from across the State.

Shortage of drugs and lack of infrastructure have been the bane of the ART Centre for a long time. But not any longer. Patients could sit more comfortably at the ART centre, which is one of the better maintained units in the GGH. But the premises continue to be cramped for space.

The ART centre, however, continues to be plagued by shortage of staff. It is manned by just one senior medical officer, as against the sanctioned strength of four. Though the APSACS has confirmed recruitment of one medical officer on contract basis, he failed to turn up.

The lone medical officer is forced to handle some 200 cases daily, including many new ones.

There has been a steady increase in the number of persons registered with the ART centre.

“We are now having more number of persons who have started taking treatment at private hospitals, but are now coming to the ART centre because the drugs are given free of cost,” says a counsellor.

“The APSACS should address the issue of staff shortage urgently and help in better functioning of the ART centre. With proposals to start a new ART centre at Tenali, we are hoping to cater to the needs of patients more effectively,” says ART centre nodal officer and professor of medicine D. Bhaskara Rao.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

‘Energy conservation need of the hour’
Staff shortage at ART centre
CCI starts buying cotton after lull
It’s a day out to cherish
Ghantasala Awards for Susheela, Nagoor Babu
Use warehouse facility, farmers told
Medical camp held in jail
Office-bearers elected

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu