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ICTC mobile vans conk out
The 26 Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) mobile vans purchased at a whopping price Rs 18.8 lakh each by the then Andhra Pradesh State Aids Control Society (APSACS) are now lying idle and most of them are in a tattered condition. Even the Telangana SACS has failed to take the service forward.
AIDS/HIV patients in far flung areas and those who are reluctant to visit ART centres at a loss
Hyderabad: The 26 Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) mobile vans purchased at a whopping price Rs 18.8 lakh each by the then Andhra Pradesh State Aids Control Society (APSACS) are now lying idle and most of them are in a tattered condition. Even the Telangana SACS has failed to take the service forward.
Highlights:
- Hopes of HIV/AIDS patients of getting treatment are dashed
- The vehicles are immobilised since 2014 following controversy over payment of contract charges to NGOs
- Earlier, the mobile clinics traversed to far-flung areas and helped detect new cases
The mobile vans traversed the length and breadth of the State extending support to HIV patients and also reached out to far- fling tribal hamlets. Mismanagement has led to the service being grounded. A huge investment has gone to waste. With 11,864 new cases of HIV/AIDS in 2016 and total number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Telangana is estimated at 1,73,398.
there is a need to bring back the vans into use, averred Mujtaba Hasan Askari, president of Helping Hand Foundation, a city-based NGO who also made an RTI query.The government spent a lot of money and the project was designed with good intentions, but most of the NGOs abandoned the project and refused to renew the contracts as they did not receive payments on time and even the money offered, which was just Rs 5.5 lakh a year was hardly enough.
Robin, fund raising manager, Lepra Society, who operated a mobile ICTC van said, “The money offered was not sufficient even to pay salaries for the counsellor, lab technician and driver. We spent money from our funds. It is a good project and one only hopes it will be revived.”
Meanwhile, the vans are left to rot. For instance, there is a mobile van kept at Gaddianaram in the city and the TSACS in not removing the van for want of space. Repeated attempts to reach out to the officials of TSACS proved futile.Several NGOs have not renewed the contracts since 2014 and many feel that unless the payment issues are not resolved and the money to be paid for services are not raised it would be difficult to operate the vans.
Mujtaba said the vans were useful in more ways than one, firstly they provided an opportunity to patients who were reluctant to go to ART centres and the vans by themselves were well-equipped with testing kits, DVDs, LCDs, projectors and other material totalling 80 items.
A community worker, Madhavi said, the vans reached out to MSMs, transgender and high risk populations. The number of new cases could easily be more than the 950-1000 a month.
T P Venu
