Hyderabad: Telangana health minister T. Harish rao on Wednesday said that the state government is spending around Rs 50 crore every year for eradication of AIDS. He also said that the percentage of AIDS patients in the state is coming down every year due to the state government’s efforts and the support of civil society organizations.
Harish rao participated in the ‘World Aids Day’ awareness program conducted by the Telangana State AIDS control society at the Government Chest Hospital at Erragadda.
“The patients suffering from AIDS shouldn’t be stigmatized. Patients shouldn’t shy away from taking life saving treatment. Our government is providing treatments and medicines at a free of cost. Chief minister KCR is providing Rs 2016 as a supportive pension to close to 32000 patients in the state suffering from this disease. Very recently, he also ordered our health department officials to set up dialysis centres for AIDS patients suffering from kidney ailments and hepatitis at Hyderabad and warangal,” he added.
Harish rao also said that the government has recognized around 1.3 lakh patients suffering from AIDS in Telangana. “Around 70 to 80,000 patients are regularly taking medicines. But there are 20000 to 30000 of them who are not receiving them. I request our health officials and NGOs to find these patients and get them treated,” he stated.
As per the National Family Health Survey of India (NFSH) of 2019-2020, 30.5 percent of men in Telangana lack comprehensive knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like HIV/AIDS. This proves to be a cause of concern especially since the previous NFSH survey in 2015-16, showed that 20 percent of men in Telangana were more aware (50.1%) than they are currently.
According to the data by National AIDS Control Organization (NACO)’s HIV Estimation of 2019, the state of Telangana recorded 1.58 lakh cases, the 6th highest in the country preceded by Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, and Meghalaya.