Berhampur: Dreaded AIDS has acquired an alarming proportion in Ganjam district as NGOs are allegedly not doing their bit in sensitising people. As a result the battle against the disease has gone haywire in the district.
The NGOs carrying out awareness drives are not doing enough to arrest the trend. The NGOs except conducting awareness drive on a few selected days remain silent throughout the year. As a result, the disease has acquired alarming proportion among residents with the district topping the chart among the AIDS affected districts in the state.
The pace at which the disease is spreading its tentacles and claiming that the lives of people are alarming. The condition of the affected patients is worrisome as they failed to get necessary treatment and assistance.
Residents claimed that this has happened as the district health department instead of taking strong action to combat the disease has handed over the awareness programme, the key to stem the disease to the NGOs.
The matter came to the fore during a programme on World AIDS Day at the office of the chief district medical officer Saturday. An awareness rally was taken out on this occasion and later a meeting was organised to mark the day.
The rally and the meeting were marked by thin attendance and were only attended by nurses and NGO officials. CDMO Sadananda Mishra joined as the chief guest and flagged of the rally.
Speaking on this occasion he stressed the need for conducting more awareness programme as Ganjam is prone to the dreaded disease. He said this year’s topic is ‘Know Your HIV Status’ for World AIDS Day which is observed all over the globe since 1988.
He said currently HIV test of jail prisoners, migrant workers and pregnant women are conducted to check the spread of the disease. He called for conducting HIV examinations of boys and girls before marriage which will serve as a milestone for checking the spread of the disease.
District AIDS cell officer Hemant Kumar Das, district malaria officer Dr Jagdish Patnaik, ADMO (medical) Dr Himanshubala Patnaik and health officials attended this programme.
PNN