One year ago

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AIDS spreading its tentacles in Punjab villages Ashok Sethi
The AIDS Awareness Group (AAG) here has been grappling with alarming AIDS scenario, especially in rural areas. The Secretary and HIV expert of the AAG and Medical Officer, Department of Skin, Dr Ravi Saini, along with Dr Rakesh Bharti, has been organising various workshops and seminars to educate the most vulnerable section of the society, especially truckers.
According to experts, the dreaded disease was spreading viciously in the villages, as proper awareness had not been created at the grassroots level.
The first few cases of the full-blown AIDS in the rural areas adjoining the city were reported during the early 1990s. Quacks, who take people for a ride, add to the dismal scenario. Dr Saini said at present there were effective drugs available for helping the AIDS patients lead a normal life. These drugs were affordable, too. But stigma about AIDS kept a large number of people, especially poor and illiterate, away from hospitals.
A random survey carried out by the AAG has found that 40 per cent of the transport workers have unprotected sex. In most of the cases, prejudice and ignorance were found to be responsible for this. The AAG was funded by the British High Commission to prepare a report on the truckers.
Dr Saini said another serious concern was that drug addicts were contracting this disease through the use of unsterilised needles. Recently, a case of 70-year-old patient with full-blown AIDS was reported. It was found that the patient had contracted AIDS through the use of unsterilised needles. "Another factor which has caught the doctors unawares is the growing trend of extramarital affairs," added Dr Saini.
The medical fraternity, too, needed to brace itself up, according to Dr Saini. Still a large number of doctors in hospitals and nursing homes shunned the HIV patients. The doctors needed to have a positive approach, he added.