The University of Pune in its bid to help the masses at large to know more about the deadly disease AIDS and to help HIV positive people, is soon to start a twenty four hour `Tele- Helpline' service.

Dwelling on the idea further, Dr. V.V. Doiphode, Dean, Faculty of Ayurvedic Medicine, University of Pune said, ``The knowledge of AIDS should be perfectly known to not only medical and paramedical staff, but also to common man. And thus through this Helpline that would be setup at University of Pune aims to teach family members about managing the patient as well as protecting themselves from the disease.'' It also aims to shed off the misconceptions about the disease from the mind of a common man. With funding through charity the Helpline is expected to take off in a months time. Dr. Doiphode further revealed, ``We are also planning to develop a user friendly website that would provide complete information about AIDS in a layman's language.''

He further stressed on the need for social awakening about the disease so that people do not ostracize HIV infected people. In near future, University in collaboration with other social organizations / institutions in the country, also plans to work in the direction of `social awakening. Dr. Doiphode emphasized, ``It is very difficult to predict that whether AIDS can totally be cured or not at this juncture. But it is sure that proper awareness of disease to take sufficient precautions to prevent the disease will surely help us to get rid of scorching problem.

Dr. Doiphode said at present no individual branch of medicine assures of a definite cure for AIDS. `` As far as Indian medicine is concerned it can definitely boost the immune system. It assures longevity and improves quality of life,'' he pointed put. He also felt the need of systematic compilation of all the research work going on world over in this field.

However, according to him the final responsibility lies upon an individual to take all the precautions to keep himself or herself away from the disease. Presently, he said, it is seen that almost 60% of cases belong to homosexuals who do not use IV drugs and remaining 20% among the heterosexual men and women who use IV drugs. While 07% are users of IV drugs are homosexuals.