Press Note on Art Dispensation Centres at 6 Central Jails in Assam
Rongili Barta- Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) is playing major service in providing treatment of People Living with HIV-AIDS (PLHIV) under National AIDS Control Programme (NACP). In Assam, 9 numbers of ART and 8 Link ART Centres are functioning in the Medical Colleges and various District Civil Hospitals. The PLHIVs are linked and registered in the ART Centres for treatment as soon as they are detected and confirmed HIV positive in the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC). On proper adherence to the treatment, PLHIVs are getting virally suppressed, the stage, where there is a least chance for transmission of HIV. This results in decrease of new infections. 200 HIV positive jail inmates have been registered in ART Centres for treatment till August, 2022 out of which 145 patients belong to Injecting Drug Users ( IDU) community. Presently only 120 patients are on active care at ART Centres out of which 105 IDUs are on ART treatment. Most of the HIV positive patients residing in the jails are linked and registered in the ART Centres. But due to the security reasons, all the inmates cannot visit the ART Centres on regular basis. For which the adherence of medication becomes less. In order to overcome such situation, Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS) plans to facilitate the linkage facility of the HIV infected jail inmates of Central Jails in the state with the nearby ART Centres. Accordingly, ASACS has established ART Dispensation Centres in the following 6 Central Jails in Assam with the financial support of Govt. of Assam: –
1. Central Jail, Guwahati
2. Central Jail, Silchar
3. Central Jail, Dibrugarh
4. Central Jail, Jorhat
5. Central Jail, Tezpur
6. Central Jail, Nagaon
The establishment of ART Dispensation Centre at jails is a unique initiative undertaken by Assam State AIDS Control Society under the aegis of Govt. of Assam to provide uninterrupted ART services to the jail inmates. Assam is the 5 th state in the country in establishing such facilities in jails for ART services. In this context, Hon’ble Minister for Health & FW, Govt of Assam, Shri Keshab Mahanta will centrally inaugurate the ART Dispensation Centres at 6 central jails of Assam at Central Jail, Guwahati on September 12, 2022 at 2 PM