2,693 reported HIV affected in Punjab
Secretary Health Punjab, Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan has directed officers of the department to pay special attention to providing treatment as well as counseling facilities to the registered HIV/AIDS patients in Punjab.
He directed that a vigorous awareness campaign should be launched in collaboration with NGOs and the civil society regarding prevention from the disease. The health secretary said this while presiding over a meeting, reviewing the one year Provincial AIDS Control Programme.
Special Secretary Health, Wasim Mukhtar, Additional Secretary (Development) Usman Muazzam, Deputy Secretary (Administration) Sualeha Saeed, Project Director Punjab AIDS Control Programme, Dr. Salman Shahid and other officers attended the meeting.
He informed that 6 Voluntary Counseling & Testing Centers (VCT), 12 surveillance centers, 6 treatment centers for adults, one treatment center for children and 3 Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission Centers (PPTCT) were functional in Punjab.
He further informed that a new PPTCT center and a VCT center had also been established at DHQ hospital Gujarat in May 2011 and that all registered AIDS patients were receiving ARV medicines free of cost, as well as 2 new AIDS treatment centers were established at DG Khan and Gujarat in November 2010 and May 2011 respectively, too.
Mr. Khan also mentioned that for the first time in Punjab an Independent Specialized Pediatric Center for HIV positive children was established at Services Hospital Lahore, a Central Data Coordinating Unit for HIV surveillance was established at PACP and in Punjab an MIS system for treatment centers was setup for integration of data of registered patients in 5 centers in Punjab.
The meeting was informed that Punjab became the first province in Pakistan to appoint Case Managers for outreach programmes in DG Khan and Gujarat to implement the PPTCT District Model Approach and that this step had scaled up the services of pregnant women at risk of HIV infection.
On this occasion, Special Secretary Health, Wasim Mukhtar apprised of the support from UNAIDS and UNICEF for AIDS response, acknowledging their contribution.
Secretary Health Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan expressed the Health Department’s commitment in supporting the new initiatives for the care and support of AIDS patients. He directed establishing a network of NGOs involved in services for HIV/AIDS and to hold capacity building meetings at regular intervals.
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