‘Blood donation also helps identify HIV status’

LUCKNOW: Voluntary blood donation not only saves lives of others but also helps identify the donor’s HIV status, before any symptom shows up, said health experts on the occasion of World AIDS Day.

“Statistically, 0.1% of the blood donated voluntarily at KGMU blood bank tested positive for HIV in the past year,” said Tulika Chandra, HoD, transfusion medicine at the KGMU. The blood bank gets about 70,000 units of voluntary blood donations in a year.

“Donating blood is a noble act, but it is also beneficial for the donor. I have come across a person who donated blood and found that his blood tested positive for Hepatitis. In fact, blood donation benefits the donor and the patient equally,” said Vinod Jain, dean paramedical sciences at KGMU.

When a person donates blood, the unit goes for testing of various infections/diseases. If the unit tests positive, the donor can contact the doctor and get treatment.

“Under this process, the donor gets to know much earlier about the disease his blood carries. Early detection makes treatment easy,” said Tulika Chandra.

EIGHT MORE DISTRICTS TO HAVE ART CENTRES

Eight more districts of UP will have antiretroviral therapy (ART) centres, where people living with HIV/AIDS get counselling and treatment facility.

With this, the number of ART centres in the state will go up from 38 to 46.

The districts that will get these centres are Sant Kabir

Nagar, Firozabad, Unnao, Sonebhadra, Ambedkarnagar, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Fatehpur, and Mirzapur/Bulandshahr (either of the two).

Addressing a programme on World AIDS Day, AK Singhal, joint director in UP AIDS Control Society, said people in need of counseling/drugs would not need not travel long distances as new ART centres would be set up. As per new guidelines from the Medical Council of India, all new medical colleges (both in government and private sector) will have ART and MDR-TB centres, he said.