No reply on demand for AIDS treatment centre

A year after the health department of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) wrote a letter to the Maharashtra State Aids Control Society (MSACS) to grant them approval to start another Antiretroviral therapy (ART) centre at the civic hospital at Nerul, they are yet to get a reply.

Officials said that they will now be sending another reminder letter to MSACS to grant them the permission for the new centre to reduce the pressure on the existing centre at Sector 10 Vashi and improve the quality of treatment.

“According to the norms, the health department is eligible to get another ART centre. We had requested for the second centre to ease the load of patients at our current hospital and provide the treatment for the patients in a better way,” said Dr Deepak Paropkari, MOH in charge of NMMC.

From 2009 to 2015, a total of 8,289 patients are registered with the centre at the civic hospital in Vashi. Of this, around 5,753 patients were undergoing treatment at the ART centre.

Currently, there are 4,196 patients who are currently taking the first line treatment for HIV/AIDS at the centre.

“If we get the approval for starting a second ART centre, then at a later stage there can also be an option to start a secondly line of treatment in Navi Mumbai for which patients are referred to JJ hospital or KEM hospital currently,” said Dr Vasant Mane, in charge of the HIV/AIDS department.

HIV/AIDS remains a major global issue, having claimed more than 36 million lives so far since the discovery of the virus more than 20 years ago.