Galkot, April 23

The ART Centre at Dhaualagiri Hospital in Baglung district has made sure that the HIV/ AIDS patients in the district are not deprived of medication amid the ongoing lockdown.

Hence, it has been providing door-to-door anti-retroviral therapy services to them.

There are a total of 399 people living with HIV/AIDS in the 10 local units in the district, according to ART Centre’s consultant Pradeep Acharya. “Among the recorded ones, 163 have been receiving regular medication and counselling services provided by the government free of cost,” shared Acharya.

The medicines for HIV and AIDS are not available everywhere.

Moreover, the lockdown has brought all human movement and vehicular traffic to a grinding halt (except for essential services/supplies).

In consideration of the inconvenience caused to HIV patients during the ongoing lockdown, the centre started reaching out to those patients’ doorsteps and giving them the medicines.

Acharya added that he has been making sure that HIV infected persons in all 10 wards avail of essential medicines regularly. Due to privacy issues, local health post do not provide the medicine to HIV patients. As a result, the centre has been reaching out to the patients.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 23, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.