Imphal, April 23: Inability of the Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) Centres at RIMS and JN Hospital to provide ART drugs to AIDS patients has caused serious health concerned for the AIDS affected people in the State.

The two ART centres were opened under the Free-Anti Retroviral Treatment Programme jointly taken up by World Health Organisation (WHO) and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) with the main objective of providing ART drugs to the AIDS infected persons free of cost so that their life span could be prolonged.

The ART centre at RIMS was set up on April 5 last year and at JN Hospital on December 1 to coincide with the World AIDS Day observation.

According to sources, the number of patients who were getting free ART drugs is said to be 300 from the Centre at RIMS Hospital and 200 from the Centre at JN Hospital.

The ART drugs are being administered to control the viral load of the patients thereby prolonging their life span but not to cure the dreaded disease.

However, the said drugs have not been provided to the selected AIDS patients most of whom come from poor families and specially widows and young children since the beginning of April without giving any reason, the source informed.

Informing that the drug has to be taken life-long for an AIDS patient to live longer, the source said there is apprehension that the viral load might be increased with replication of the HIV virus inside the body of the patients as the drug has been stopped midway.

It would not be a problem for those people who can afford to buy the ART drug available in the market.

But it mean a lot for those who cannot afford it, the source said, adding that a patient has to shell out at least Rs 1300 every month to procure the life saving drug from the market.

Meanwhile, Social Awareness Service Organisation (SASO) and Kripa Society, Manipur in a joint statement, have expressed serious concerned over the existing irregularity in issuing the ART drugs to the patients from the ART centres at RIMS and JN Hospital and said it is very unfortunate.

The statement jointly signed by SASO general secretary L Birendrajit and Society president H Dineswar Singh informed that many clients who were receiving the said drugs from these two centres are now facing serious health complication due to non-availability of the drugs and the required dosages of the drugs.

This kind of irregularity in the administering of the drugs would lead to serious health consequences even to the extent of lost of life of the clients, the statement added.

The two social organisations have also drawn the attention of the concern Governmental agencies responsible for management of the ART centres to take immediate prompt action to bring about a solution to the present problem being faced by the ART clients.

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