By IANS
New Delhi : The new year began on a positive note for AIDS patients from poor families. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) will now provide free second line treatment for the disease, urgently needed by those who have developed resistance to the first set of medicines.
Initially only patients in Mumbai and Chennai will have access to the free treatment. But the government is planning to reach out to more people by April 1 when it launches 10 more centres in the country.
Keeping with their promise of providing free of cost the extremely expensive second line treatment, which involves a combination of drugs, to an estimated 3,000 people, doctors in Mumbai and Chennai will first screen those who really fit the criteria.
“We will first screen and test those who really need the second line treatment,” said Damodar Bachani, joint director in-charge of anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy in NACO, which is the apex government body to monitor and curb HIV/AIDS in India.
“The treatment is free for people below poverty line, but others can also buy from us,” he told IANS.
The second line treatment will be provided at Mumbai’s J.J. Hospital and Chennai’s Tambaram ART centre.
According to estimates revised in 2007, India has an estimated 2.5 million people living with HIV. Over 100,000 people are taking the first line treatment from 137 centres in the country free of cost.
The second line treatment will cost NACO Rs.40-50,000 per year per patient.
Bachani said NACO is negotiating with drug manufacturers to lower the prices of ARV drugs. “We are hopeful that our talks will make manufacturers bring down the cost,” he said.
The Clinton Foundation helped NACO to procure the drugs. “They will procure for us this year,” Bachani said.
NACO has also received aid from the Global Fund, a Switzerland-headquartered international charity, to the tune of $336 million for a period of five years to fight HIV/AIDS.
Bachani said NACO has already identified the 10 centres in the country where free second line treatment will be extended and is planning to train doctors too. “We are confident we will be able to extend the treatment in the rest of the country by April 1,” he said.
Four doctors and two microbiologists had last month gone to Thailand for training on providing second line treatment in Mumbai and Chennai.
They were trained on operational issues related to second-line therapy, taught the treatment protocols and how to roll out and monitor the treatment lest patients become resistant.