Kendrapara: The district administration has been trying to create awareness about AIDS. But the ground reality is different.
The Health Department’s AIDS cell has failed to generate awareness about the disease as several AIDS patients are shying away from accepting pension under the Madhubabu Pension Yojana.
Official sources said 168 of the 712 persons living with HIV positive in the district have died since 2003.
CDMO Baisnab Charan Sahoo said 1,95,442 persons had come to the Health Department for counselling in the last 15 years, and the department conducted blood tests on 1,74,521 persons.
As per official reports, 712 persons were found to be HIV positive and the number of AIDS cases in the district is 47.
The number of patients registered for pre-antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the district is 84, while the number of patients enrolled for Link ART plus is 149.
Sources said 11 persons, including two this year, have died of AIDS in the past five years.
The Health Department has failed to create awareness about AIDS, and 106 patients have shied away from Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) for fear of ostracisation.
Although the Centre and the state have been pumping in funds to create awareness about the disease, the drive has not succeeded in the remote corners of the district.
Official sources said 88 persons were suffering from AIDS in Aul block, 44 in Derabish, 20 in Kendrapara municipality area and 67 in Kendrapara block.
Similarly, 65 persons were affected with AIDS in Mahakalapada, 84 in Marshaghai block, 56 in Garadapur and 176, the highest in the district, in Pattamundai block.
Doctors said 48 persons had AIDS in Rajkanika block, 42 in Rajnagar and 22 in other districts.
About 78 patients from Pattamundai block, 14 from Derabish block, 12 from Kendrapara municipality, 15 each from Kendrapara and Garadapur blocks, 30 from Mahakalapara block, 34 from Marshaghai block, 21 each from Rajkanika and Rajnagar blocks and 22 from outside the district have shied away from MBPY (Madhu Babu Pension Yojana).
Most of the patients are from low income groups like drivers, plumbers and labourers who go in search of work to other states. After contracting AIDS they return and infect their spouses.
Official sources admitted that substantial stigma is attached to AIDS in the district, and AIDS patients and their families have been facing social boycott.
But in most areas, the Health Department has been able to neutralise the stigma attached to AIDS by creating awareness.
AIDS patients shy away from the Madhubabu pension scheme as there is a possibility of their identities getting revealed.
The state-sponsored Madhubabu Pension Yojana, which was introduced to provide financial aid to AIDS patients, has failed in Kendrapara district as 106 AIDS patients were hesitating to accept it as they fear they would face social boycott although they need it desperately.
PNN
