PLHIVs feel heat of blockade
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Ningombam Pramod

Imphal, November 20 2012: With the concerned authorities failing to provide the required dosage of ART through the various ART centres and link centres opened in the state, People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIVs) have yet again felt the heat of acute shortage of their most essential medication.

According to sources obtained from ART centres, under normal circumstances, the ART centres are stocked with the required medicines for three months and the PLHIVs are also provided with a monthly dosage of ART medicines.

But of late, due to reasons best known to the concerned authorities, the ART centres in the state, mainly the ones located in RIMS and JNIMS are running low on ART stock.

As such, the staffs in the RIMS ART centre and that of JNIMS have started providing ART to the PLHIVs for 15 days only.

But since yesterday, these ART centres have further cut down the dosages for five days only.

Surprisingly, the ART centre in RIMS today provided Efavirenz 200mg which is meant for Children Living with HIV and AIDS (CLHIVs) to PLHIVs.

However, to make the medicine fit for adults, three tablets of Efavirenz 200mg are being provided, sources disclosed.

Though the officials manning the ART centres at RIMS and JNIMS have time and again approached the concerned authorities in connection with shortage of ART, no action has been ever taken up to solve the impending crisis.

They keep assuring that the medicines are "on the way" for the last one month, but the medicines never reached the state, said an official of ART centre, RIMS.

"We are being thronged by a number of patients on daily basis to get their required ART dosages, but since we cannot provide them their medicines for a month, they went back dissatisfied with only some medicines fit to be consumed for five days only", the official added with regret.

A PLHIV from Tamenglong, who came to get his ART from RIMS for a month but got only for five days, informed Hueiyen Lanpao that since he came from a far off place he cannot visit RIMS regularly after every five days.

The cost of the fare from Tamenglong to Imphal is also high.

"Not providing the required medicines to PLHIVs and CLHIVs is a pure case of violation of their Right to Health", he contended and added that the concerned authority should do the needful in the interest of People Living with HIV and AIDS.

"If the situation continues for long, PLHIVs would be the only sufferer and all the high promises made by the government for providing free ART to PLHIVs and CLHIVs would only remain a distant dream.

This only goes to mean that the government itself is discriminating the PLHIVs", the PLHIV added.

A representative of a well known NGO working in the field of HIV and AIDS told Hueiyen Lanpao that this is not the first time that PLHIVs in Manipur are left to suffer from shortage of ART drugs.

The problem has happened a number of times in the past.

Certain responsible persons who are committed and reliable and who can manage the stock are needed and this will help the PLHIVs and CLHIVs in maintaining adherence to the drug.

An official of the ART centre in JNIMS, on condition of anonymity, recalled that the Regional Co-ordinator of NACO visited the state a few days back and had assured that the required ART drugs for the state would be provided within 10 days.

However, with the ongoing 'public blockade' along all the NHs and SHs in the state, the promised has been delayed.

The problem faced by the ART centre in JNIMS today would multiply tomorrow and the case would be worsened thereafter until and unless the government comes up with a definite solution.

Meanwhile, another highly reliable source revealed that the concerned authorities have sent officials to Kolkata to collect 10,000 tablets but transportation of the drugs through land route has been stranded due to the blockade.

So, the only option now is to airlift the drugs from Guwahati to Imphal.

At present there are 8 ART centres in the state.

They are located in Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Churachandpur, Ukhrul, Senapati, Chandel and Bishnupur.

The problem of shortage of ART at present is faced in the ART centres in JNIMS and RIMS since a fairly a large number of patients enrolled on ART are being provided drugs.

And at the same time, these ART centres also serve the demands of certain linked ART centres.

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