Orissa: AIDS on the rise in Tirtol

February 1, 2006

AIDS on the rise in Tirtol

Statesman News Service

JAGATSINGHPUR, Jan. 31. — The increasing number of HIV positive

cases in the villages of Tirtol area has become a matter of great

concern here.

The condition of two orphan girls of Nuagaon village, afflicted with

AIDS has reportedly worsened due to lack of proper treatment and

social stigma.

The father of the two girls died of AIDS in 2001, while their mother

passed away last year. The two girls have also stopped going to

school after being cornered by their classmates.

A relative who is looking after them said that he is finding it

difficult to sustain his family of six children.

As a daily wage earner, he has been struggling to make both ends

meet. He said a check up at the SCB Medical College and Hospital,

Cuttack had confirmed that the two minor girls were afflicted by

HIV.

Though several political leaders and government officers had

frequented the place and promised help, nothing has been done yet.

The health department gave Rs 2,000 for their treatment and only

recently, the district collector of Jagatsinghpur, Mr Satyabrata

Sahoo, promised that special care will be taken for rehabilitation

and treatment of the two girls.

Meanwhile, Mr B Senapati, secretary of an NGO called Board of Social

Service (Boss), of Tirtol area has conducted a survey on the disease

here.

He claimed that several youths of the area were working in the Gulf

and metro cities of India where they develop unsafe sexual

relationships. Mr Senapati said that there are at least 60 persons

afflicted with HIV in Tirtol area

A retired health worker, Mr Sarat Mohanty, alleged that at least

eight AIDS related deaths had taken place over the last three years

in the same area. Despite tall claims, AIDS awareness in the

villages of Tirtol area is lowest, he charged.

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