Patna: HIV-positive people in the state would now be given travel allowance for every visit to antiretroviral therapy (ART) centres.
The Bihar State AIDS Control Society issued a notification last Thursday, stating that HIV-infected patients will get Rs 100 on every visit to ART centres. According to figures available with the society, around 43,000 HIV-infected patients are undergoing treatment at ART centres in Bihar, and they will be beneficiaries of this travel allowance.
The number of ART centres in the state have also gone up - from 17 to 21 - last month. "It had been observed in the past that HIV-positive patients discontinued their treatment because of money. So, we sent a proposal to the state government's social welfare department to provide travel allowance for HIV-infected patients," said Manoj Kumar Sinha, joint secretary, information, education and communication, Bihar State AIDS Control Society. "The department approved our proposal and has already provided us Rs 2.36 crore."
"We have sent letters to the data operators at all the ART centres, asking them to get the patients to fill out forms, mentioning their account details. They have to submit the forms to the data operators who would submit it to the AIDS control society. The society, in turn, will send money to the banks, and the travel allowance will be directly credited into the HIV-positive patients' accounts," said Sinha.
A separate fund of Rs 12 crore has also been provided to the society for the Bihar Shatabdi AIDS Peerit Kalyan Yojana. Under this scheme, AIDS and HIV+ patients, over 18 years of age, will get Rs 1,500 a month for life. "We have provided four-months' fund to the banks which will credit the beneficiaries' accounts. There are at least 21,000 beneficiaries now," said Sinha.
New director
Additional executive officer of the State Health Society, Bihar, Karuna Kumari, has been given additional charge as project director of the Bihar State AIDS Control Society.
Karuna took over the charge from outgoing project director Sanjay Kumar Singh on Tuesday.
