Forty six new Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) Centers for AIDS patients will be operational across the country by the middle of June this year to meet the increasing needs.

The new centers are five in Maharashtra, eight in Andhra Pradesh, eight in Karnataka, two each in Manipur, Nagaland, Kerala, Punjab, Bihar and one each in Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Assam, Orissa, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Uttranchal, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Fifty four centers are already operational as on April 30, 2006 providing free treatment to 28,665 patients. In these total 100 centers, an estimated 85,320 patients will be provided free treatment during the current financial year.

At each ART centre, the National AIDS Control Organization, NACO provides funds for appointment of two doctors, one counselor, one lab technician, one data entry operator and a pharmacist on contractual basis. The diagnostic equipment such as CD4 count machines, reagents and drugs are also provided to these ART centers. Doctors are provided specialized training for 12 days and faculty members for five days at these ART centers.

Though it is targeted to provide free ART to 1,80,000 patients in 188 centers by 2010, action to further expand ART Centers will be taken in keeping with the demand.