Karnataka Government will set up six new Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centres before March 2006, making the total number of ART centres in the state to nine.

Currently, there are three ART centres located at Hubli, Mysore and Bangalore. The National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) and the Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS) has now sanctioned an ART centre at the Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) in Bellary and similar centres will come up in the district hospitals of Belgaum, Raichur and Gulbarga, Dr. S M Jangay, technical consultant KSAPS and former director Reproductive Child Health (RCH), department of health and family welfare, Government of Karnataka told Pharmabiz.

In total, 8 centres will be established within the next six months in the north Karnataka districts where the incidence of HIV/AIDS is high and have been declared as high-risk areas.

The ART Centre at the Bowring & Lady Curzon Hospital in Bangalore was set up in April 2004. It handles around 80 patients a day from across the state for both treatment and counselling. The facility is a life saving centre for the cases and referrals from Voluntary Counselling & Testing Centres (VCTCs) and the out patients/ in-patient departments of other hospitals. Once the patient is confirmed as HIV positive, they are sent for clinical examination, screening and investigations to decide whether he or she needs ART.

ART is not just mere prescribing of anti retroviral drugs, but it includes counselling which is the key to the whole programme in the rehabilitation of the AIDS/HIV infected cases, explained Dr. MC Mahesh Medical Officer ART, Bowring & Lady Curzon Hospital. Hence, both the patient and the caretaker are counselled extensively because they have misconceptions about the disease. Initially, the patient might face problems such as resistance to drugs, vomiting and giddiness, but soon their health is restored and can return to normal work. The counselling helps them to accept the health condition and manage their life effectively. With constant interactions with the team of counselors, there is strict adherence to treatment by the patients and a high degree of regular follow-ups are recorded, stated sources from the hospital, he informed.