India to Provide Jobs and Food Rations to AIDS Patients

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India to Provide Jobs and Food Rations to AIDS Patients

The federal government in India is proposing to offer jobs and food rations to

AIDS patients.

The government told the Supreme Court Tuesday that it would offer jobs under the

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The act is essentially aimed at

guaranteeing unskilled manual jobs for one hundreds in a year for rural

households.

Though wages are paltry, still the scheme is hailed as some positive attempt at

bettering the lot of the rural poor. Now the government is saying it would

extend the scheme to HIV/AIDS-infected too.

Also one lakh people receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) at 174 centres

across the country, would be treated as belonging to the below poverty line

(BPL) category, ensuring them 35 kg of foodgrain every month under the Antyodaya

Yojana (AAY).

These promises were part of the 19-point proposal submitted to the Supreme Court

on Tuesday, by way of affirming the government’s commitment to bettering the

lives of HIV positive people.

Additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam also told the court the number of

ART centres — providing free treatment and run under National AIDS Control

Organisation (Naco) — would be increased from 174 to 650 by 2010.

Providing second line treatment for HIV positive people was in the pilot stage

and would soon be made available to the needy.

All doctors and nurses in the public and private sector would be directed to

immediately familiarise themselves and comply with the protocols and policies

prepared by NACO, which would be made part of

the teaching curriculum, Subramaniam said.

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