Berhampur (PTI): In a positive news for thousands of HIV positive people in Orissa, a CD-4 count machine, the most essential device to count the CD-4 level of a person, was installed at a hospital here.

This means the patients would not have to wait for long to test their CD-4 count in order to get treatment at Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centre here henceforth.

Donated by the Clinton Foundation to the National Aids Control Organization (NACO), the machine was installed at the the microbiology department of the MKCG Medical College Hospital here yesterday.

"The machine, first of its kind in the state, is a real blessings for the HIV positive persons," Chief Minister Naveen Patnbaik said after inaugurating it.

The state had identified as many as 8,200 people carrying HIV positive virus while 912 people were identified as AIDS patients by December 2007, said Orissa State AIDS Control Society project director Parameswar Swain.

Although the ART Centre was operational at the hospital since one year, patients could not get proper doses due to lack of CD-4 count mechanism. The blood sample collected from patient was being sent to Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai in order to access the cd-4 count of a patient before prescribing him/her the proper doses.

According to procedure, the person whose CD-4 count recorded below 200, should get ART drugs. In a normal human being, the cd-4 count remained between 800 to 1,200.

With opening of the CD-4 facility, the AIDS patients in Orissa could be given drugs at appropriate time, Swain said.

He said the government was planning to install two more CD-4 machines at SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack and VSS Medical College Hospital in Sambalpur.