Population Services International (PSI), an NGO into nationwide AIDS awareness and control mission, will start first of its kind HIV detection mobile unit in Kerala.

Starting at an investment of Rs.12 lakhs, the unit will be operational at Kochi since the World AIDS Day on December 1. The unit will be equipped with a doctor, two counselors and one lab technician, besides the necessary paraphernalia for HIV testing.

Those who come forward to test for the disease will be charged just Rs.25, instead of the normal Rs.500 to Rs.600 minimum charges at most other testing centres and private hospitals.

Those reluctant to get into the mobile unit for testing due to various reasons would be counseled to approach the nearby HIV detection centres, and further, the results would be kept as secret, according to Jickson Jose, project manager, PSI.

He said the decision to locate the unit at Kochi was based on reported incidents of increasing HIV positive cases from the region. The unit would focus on areas with high-risk groups like sex workers, construction workers, fishermen etc.

Already PSI is operational in Kochi, as part of its AIDS detection and control programme at 12 ports in the country. In Kochi, it concentrates on areas like ship building unit, Cochin Port, Kalamassery truck terminal etc.

PSI is also launching a new AIDS awareness programme from February, next year, concentrating on the highways in the country, in association with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Travel Corporation of India (TCI)