After an outbreak of HIV/AIDs as many as 10 people have lost their lives while 837 patients have so far been registered in Antiretroviral Therapy Clinic (ARTC) established at Liaquat Medical University hospital Hyderabad in August 2018.
According to official figures, out of 837 registered positive cases 92 patients have been declared as AIDS patients while rest of the patients were tested as HIV patients and complete treatment facilities were being provided to them.
The Incharge of Antiretroviral Therapy Clinic (ARTC) Hyderabad, Dr. Shaista Shah while talking to APP said HIV treatment is called antiretroviral therapy (ART), though it is not a cure but it can control the virus so that one can live a longer, healthier life and reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to others.
Dr. Shah said in ART clinic Hyderabad registered HIV positive and AIDs patients belonged to different parts of the country and the province including Hyderabad district. Two patients from Lahore, 6 from Khaniwal, one from Bahawalpur and one from Sahiwal districts of Punjab are registered here in the clinic, she informed.
Under National AIDs Control Program with the collaboration of the Global Fund, 38 Antiretroviral Therapy Clinics are established in Pakistan which were providing required treatment facilities to the registered patients, Dr. Shaista Shah said and added that eight clinics functioning in Karachi, two in Larkana, one each in Sukkur and Hyderabad while two more clinics one each in Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah (Shaheed Benazirabad) would soon be established to facilitate the patients belonging to the respective areas.
Providing details of the ART clinics, Dr. Shah said there were 12 ART clinics functioning in Sindh out of which 9 for adults and three for the peds, adding that in civil hospital Karachi one Adult and a Peds, in Agha Khan University Hospital Karachi one adult and one peds, one each ART clinics were funtioning in Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Abbassi Shaheed Hospital, Indus Hospital and Liyari General Hospital in Karachi where screening and therapy facilities are being provided to the registered patients.
In Chandka Medical College hospital one adult and in Shaikh Zayed hospital Larakana one peds ART clinic was functioning, she said and added that one each in Liaqat Medical College Hospital Hyderabad and Ghulam Muhammad Mahar College Hospital Sukkur were functioning for facilitation of the people infected and affected by the HIV/AIDs. —APP
