Administrative Inefficiency plagues AIDS Control Prog in Manipur
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Seram Neken

Imphal, October 02 2014 : Even though the rate of HIV prevalence in Manipur still soaring over one percent, the pace of addressing the epidemic has slowed down considerably thereby putting the lives of millions of young people at stake.

Lack of efficient staff, unnecessary red tapism, frequent change of project director of MACS, part time working style of project director of MACS, inordinate delay in revising state AIDS policy, defunct status of Legislators' Forum, state government's apathy etc.

have plagued the AIDS control programme in the state.

Alleging that there is no efficient ownership of AIDS control programme in Manipur at present, various experts and activists who have been working in the field of HIV prevention have expressed discontent over the lethargic functioning of the Manipur State AIDS Control Society (MACS) .

Although MACS is an autonomous body registered under Manipur Societies Act 1989 with its own Rules and Regulations, it has apparently been converted into a Government department by allocating the Project Director's charge to a government bureaucrat, who is also holding additional charges of Vigilance and Finance under state government.

He seems to have little time to devote to HIV/AIDS Programme, it claimed.

Apprehending that state government has not learnt anything from the experiences of failure of Manipur State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), Spinning Mill, Sugar Factory, Cement Factory, Cycle Factory, Pharmaceutical Industry etc.

which met an immature death at the hands of lackluster bureaucrats and Ministers, a source has envisioned that the State AIDS Control Society is also undergoing a slow death.

Earlier, the Executive Committee of MACS under chairmanship of the Principal Secretary (Health), Government of Manipur was responsible for management of the AIDS Control Programme.

Nowadays, each and every file of the Society goes to the Health Minister, thereby giving room for bribery, nepotism and corruption at every level, besides undermining the urgency of work.

The Governing body of MACS headed by the state Chief Minister has not met for the last five years, and the decision making process in the Manipur State AIDS Control Society is too slow to address the urgency of the programme, according to experts.

Citing that state government's financial contribution to AIDS Control Programme till date is negligible, the source said former chief minister late R.K Ranbir Singh had promised to sanction Rs.one crore for the AIDS Control Programme in Manipur in February 1990 and the news was widely published in the media.

However, it was not sanctioned, the source pointed out.

Apparently due to non-availability of funds, the Manipur Legislators' Forum in Manipur is almost defunct and the much-talked about involvement of legislators in the programme is yet to be achieved.

The in-principle agreement among MLAs to contribute 10 percent of their local area development funds for AIDS control activities in their constituencies cannot be materialized due to lack of follow-up by the MACS.

Moreover, the mainstreaming process to involve other departments like Education, Social Welfare, Labour, Industry, Youth Affaires and Sports etc in AIDS control activities has not yet started, according to the source.

Alleging incompetency of officers looking after various programme components, the source said that there is always inordinate delays in the release of funds to NGOs as the fund for the period from April to September this year is not yet released.

Implementation of NACP in Manipur has apparently failed due to non filling of the vacant posts in MACS.

Under the NACO guidelines, there must be 2 Joint Directors (one for Care Support & Treatment and another for Targeted Intervention), and 4 Deputy Directors (STD, M&E, QA and IEC).

However, presently there are only two Deputy Directors (deputed from health dept.) in MACS.

A Medical Officer deputed from state health department is holding the charges of Joint Director (CST), Deputy Director (M&E), Deputy Director (QA) and Deputy Director (IEC), said the source, while informing that the post of Deputy Director (IEC) must be recruited on contract basis from among the media professionals who have at least passed the post-graduate diploma in journalism & mass communication and have the minimum experience of 8 years in health communication.

However, unfortunately a medical professional has been holding the post for the last five years, alleged the source, while claiming that it is against the NACO guidelines and also against the spirit of the programme to allocate the charge of Deputy Director (IEC) to a medical professional.

Sources also informed that amounts meant for implementation of various programmes under MACS remain unutilized due to inefficient officers and the same is return back to NACO.

Moreover, the office continues with its works of procurement of equipment instead of implementing the programmes.

Computer sets, laptops etc.

the most procured items of MACS during the last few years.

The revision of State AIDS Policy has been unduly delayed for a long time, due to inefficiency of the incumbent officials of MACS.

According to latest statistics published by NACO, rate of HIV prevalence of HIV in Manipur state is 1.22 percent with 25369 AIDS cases and 1905 deaths reported till 2011.Manipur state shares highest number of HIV infections, AIDS patients and deaths due to AIDS in the whole north east India.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Manipur state was prominently known for being the pioneer in fighting HIV/AIDS in the whole of south east Asia, particularly India.

For the first time in the country, Manipur adopted the State AIDS Policy on 3rd October, 1996.The Targeted Intervention for Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) also known as RIAC project was launched on 7th November, 1998 involving a large number of NGOs, which led to the decline of HIV prevalence among (IDUs) from 80.7% in 1997 to 12.4% in 2011 .

Mention may be made here that Manipur was the first state to conduct the Legislators' Conference on HIV/AIDS and to organise the first Media Strategy Conference on HIV/AIDS as early as 1995.For the first time in India, the District AIDS Committee on HIV/AIDS was constituted in Thoubal District with the then Deputy Commissioner Mr.Suresh Babu as its Chairman.

However, now the HIV prevention and AIDS control programmes in Manipur have almost failed to address the growing younger and vulnerable population of the state.

Concerned with the slow progress in addressing HIV/AIDS issues in Manipur, a number of health activists of the state has drawn the attention of the Union Health Minister, the Director General of NACO, the Chief Minister of Manipur who is the chairman of Governing Body of MACS, State Health Minister and vice-chairman of MACS, Principal Secretary (Health) and president of Executive Committee of MACS and all the NGOs and civil organizations who are concerned with the menace of HIV/AIDS in Manipur to look into the matter.

Informing that people with Hepatitis-C infection are increasingly dying due to lack of access to treatment and Government support, experts are of the opinion that Hepatitis-C needs to be included in the list of diseases eligible under the Manipur State Illness Assistance Fund.

As suggested by them, the incumbent project director of MACS may be stripped off all additional charges to allow him to work independently and exclusively for the AIDS Control Programme.

Moreover, the minimum period of posting for the Project Director may be fixed as three years to maintain continuity and efficiency of the programmes.

It will enable the MACS to work as an autonomous body according to its Byelaws, Rules and Regulations without political interference.

Comment