AKOLA: As many as 38 hospitals in the state providing treatment to AIDS patients are on the verge of closure for want of grant, alleged Dr Jagannath Dhone, former MLA and chairman of AIDS-affected patients hospital care centre.
600 employees working in such hospitals in the entire state did not get salaries since February. The state government is unable to provide grant for running such hospitals.
The plights of AIDS-affected patients as well as employees in this field would continue if Maharashtra government failed to take steps to solve the problem in the field, Dhone said. He said that if treatment is not given in the first stage of HIV/AIDS, then the cost in the second stage at JJ Hospital in Mumbai is even higher.
As reported in: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/38-AIDS-treatment-clinics-face-closure/articleshow/9329229.cms
Briefing presspersons on Wednesday, Dhone said that his organisation, Priyadarshni Gramin and Adivasi Utkarsha Foundation, has been permitted to begin such hospital. 4,314 patients were treated in the said hospital. Each hospital needs one doctor and 15 health workers, including nurses, to provide services to the needy HIV-affected patients. Karnataka Health Society provided a loan of Rs 50 lakh but the amount is not enough to run the hospital. The attention of chief minister and health minister was drawn to the fact but nothing happened, he said. Senior Congress minister Gulam Nabi Azad was also informed of the situation.
600 employees working in such hospitals in the entire state did not get salaries since February. The state government is unable to provide grant for running such hospitals.
The plights of AIDS-affected patients as well as employees in this field would continue if Maharashtra government failed to take steps to solve the problem in the field, Dhone said. He said that if treatment is not given in the first stage of HIV/AIDS, then the cost in the second stage at JJ Hospital in Mumbai is even higher.
As reported in: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/38-AIDS-treatment-clinics-face-closure/articleshow/9329229.cms