Over 80 pregnant women found HIV positive in Meerut Medical College, probe ordered

Meerut: Around 80 pregnant women who came for child delivery at the Lala Lajpat Rai Medical College of Meerut over the past 16 months were found to be HIV positive. 

The Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centre of the college found that the women tested positive for HIV and released a report. A team from the health department would be keeping an eye on the case, said an official.  

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According to the report released by ART, the medical college found 33 new cases of HIV among pregnant women between 2022-2023, 13 new cases till July 2023 and 35 women were already found to be affected. 

An official of the medical college said that the women are currently fine and are receiving treatment at the ART centre of the medical college. Around 35 women who tested positive for HIV have given birth.

The ART centre’s nodal officer said that the newborns would be tested for HIV after they complete 18 months, as per a media report in the India Today.

Meerut’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Akhilesh Mohan Prasad said, "Cases of HIV among 60 women in Meerut's Lala Lajpat Rai Medical College have come to light. However, all the women and newborn children are healthy." Prasad added, "We do not have the details of the affected women. A team has been constituted to find out the details of the affected women and the reasons for how they got HIV." 

ART centres in India provide comprehensive services to people living with HIV, and public health facilities are mandated to ensure that ART is provided to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA). HIV can spread when infected blood, semen or vaginal fluids enter the body. It can also pass from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. 

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