Imphal, November 26: The FACScan machine used in checking CD4 cell count for treatment of HIV positive people has been installed at the office of Care Foundation in conjunction with its 6th foundation day celebration.

The foundation day celebrated at MDU hall was graced by Secretary (Health) T Vaiphei, project director MACS Dr Kh Pramodkumar, ART in-charge of JN Hospital Dr K Priyokumar and Dr P Narendra of Aadarsh Lab as chief guest, guest of honour and president respectively.

After the FACScan machine was opened at the office of Care Foundation by chief guest T Vaiphei, Dr K Priyokumar address the celebration at MDU hall.

He noted that the difficulties faced by HIV positive people to ascertain their CD4 cell count would be certainly mitigated with the installation of the machine at the office of an NGO.

Even though Rs 500 was charged for checking CD4 cell count at RIMS and JN Hospital earlier, the fee would be reduced to Rs 250 according to a guideline issued by NACO recently.

Moreover, the installation of another machine at Care Foundation would help in reducing hardships encountered by HIV patients in checking their cell counts at public hospitals, observed Dr Priyokumar.

Asserting that HIV positive people face various inconveniences in undergoing basic medical investigations in Manipur, he maintained that checking for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and haemoglobin count were as much necessary as checking CD4 cell count.

Even as NACO has issued guidelines in letter to avail such basic investigations free of cost, the advantage is not yet extended to HIV positive people in practice, lamented Dr Priyokumar.

He noted that people need to exert pressure to put the NACO guidelines in practice.

In his presidential speech, Dr P Narendra noted that even as discrimination against HIV positive people and indifferent attitude to their problems have been considerably reduced, the problem still persisted to a certain extent.

Whereas 30 doctors were imparted training on HIV/AIDS under the initiative of the State Government, only about one or two doctors did serious research work on the disease and perform their task sincerely, he rued.

Observing that it was an extremely tough job for a doctor to disclose that a patient had been infected with HIV right at his/her face when the patient least expected it, Dr Narendra conveyed his wish for NGOs to work at grassroots level to cope with such circumstances.

Due to acute shortage of documentation and publication works in Manipur, the benefits of timely treatment for diseases like HIV/AIDS, hepatitis etc could not be enjoyed by patients in Manipur, he observed.

As such, it was quite important to do documentation and publication works, he added.

In connection with today's celebration, a souvenir detailing the establishment of Care Foundation was also released.

A documentary film depicting the growth of the Foundation was also screened.

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