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Guntur Govt hospitals face shortage of HIV drugs for kids
The life-saving Anti-Retroviral Therapy drugs are reportedly in short supply in the Guntur General Hospital here.
Guntur: The life-saving Anti-Retroviral Therapy drugs are reportedly in short supply in the Guntur General Hospital here.
Parents of the HIV-affected children are doing rounds to the AIDS treatment centres in the hospital only to return disappointed.
However, medical circles deny that the ART drugs are in short supply. In the district, there are 1,800 children below 12 years, affected by the HIV.
Highlights:
- Guntur district has about 1800 HIV+ children aged below 12 years
- Parents of most of the HIV kids are poor, so they depend on government hospitals for anti-retroviral treatment drugs
- Officials deny reports of scarcity, but sources say HIV+ kids are being advised to take half or three-fourths of adults’ dosage to tide over the crisis
A majority of their parents are poor and hence cannot afford the drugs in open market and depend on government hospitals for the supply. For the past one month, the patients and their parents have been returning home empty-handed.
So far, the drugs seem to be not available with the government hospitals. The affected children are facing numerous problems because of the delay in dispensing of the drugs.
Government hospitals at Tenali, Guntur, Narsaraopet and Chilakaluripet dispense ART drugs to children free of cost. The drug save children from further complications.
An affected boy said that he had been healthy as he has been regularly taking the medicine for the past 10 years.
But the children are in a confused state because of the stoppage of the ART drugs dispensation for the past one month.
However, the medical officers are cleverly managing the situation by asking them to take only half or three-fourths of the dose meant for the adults.
Though the situation is somewhat better at some places, the problem still persists at many other places. A doctor in the government hospital, Dr Lakshmi, said that measures to avoid scarcity of ART drugs were being initiated. Guntur General Hospital superintendent Dr Raju Naidu expressed similar opinion.
Ever since the AIDS Control Society has been relocated to Vijayawada, there has been delay in dispensing the drugs due to lack of awareness.
By: Narasimha Rao
