Maha: 7 private medical colleges start free ART centres, 5 more to follow

Pune: To ensure that healthcare facilities are accessible to all HIV/AIDS patients across the country, seven private medical colleges in Maharashtra have started anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centres on their premises for free.

Smt Kashibai Navale Medical College and Hospital in Pune is among the seven medical colleges that have already started to offer free treatment and testing services to HIV-positive patients.

“Antiretroviral therapy” refers to any HIV treatment that uses a combination of two or more drugs.

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Since HIV treatment usually leans to the expensive side, government-run medical colleges and hospitals provide the treatment for free. This time, private medical colleges and hospitals have also taken part in the move at distributing the services for free.

The seven private medical colleges include Dr Vasantrao Pawar Medical College Hospital (Nashik), Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, Loni (Ahmednagar), Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Medical College (Amaravati), Walawalkar Rural Medical College (Ratnagiri), Smt Kashibai Navale Medical College and Hospital (Pune), Vedanta Institute of Medical Sciences (Palghar) and Bharati Medical College and Hospital (Sangli).

Medical students of these colleges will be given proper training by the government so that the services provided to patients are of high quality. Furthermore, the government will ensure that the colleges receive ART drugs.

"Seven private medical colleges in the state have already started ART centres on their premises for free. Five other private medical institutes are in the process of launching these services in a month or two. The remaining private medical colleges will soon follow suit," a senior official of the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society told TOI on Wednesday.

Five other medical colleges in line include Dr Ulhas Patil Medical College and Hospital (Jalgaon), NKP Salve Medical College and Hospital (Nagpur), Prakash Medical College and Hospital, Islampur (Sangli), Bharati Medical College and Hospital (Pune) and Maharashtra Institute of Medical Education and Research (Pune).

Dr Jitendra Oswal, deputy director of Bharati Medical College and Hospital, Pune, said, "We have allocated adequate space for the OPD and ART services for the HIV-affected." "It is often observed that once such services are launched, nobody takes stock of how things are running," said health activist Dr Abhijit More.

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