Gujarat recently received its second line drug regime, but the treatment is being administered only to patients in serious need of the same due to the limited stock. The facility, which is available at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, has been presently given to 15 patients only. According to the Gujarat State Aids Control Society (GSACS), over 8,000 HIV patients are registered with the government and are undergoing the first line drug regime at the ART centres. Of this, at least 3 per cent (approximately 240 HIV positive) are in need of the second line drug.

Daksha Patel, president of the Gujarat State Network of People Living with HIV Aids (GSNP+), said: “We have over 6,399 HIV positive patients from across the state registered with us and over 450 of them are in need of the second line regime. The numbers might be more if the whole state is taken into consideration.”

While some of the patients approach private hospitals, a majority of them do not get the treatment done due to the heavy costs involved. Considering various clinical tests and the cost of medicines, a patient under second line drug regime has to spend anywhere over Rs 10,000 per month.

“Most of the patients registered with us barely make a living of Rs 2,000. A treatment at private hospitals is out of question for them,” said Manisha Saduke, a member of city based NGO, AP+.

With the set of criteria for the selection of patients, there is an unending wait for many of them. As per the guidelines of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), patients with the Ahmedabad ART centre will be the first to receive the treatment, followed by those registered with the government’s first line drug regime. Finally patients belonging to the BPL category patients not registered with the GSACS will be treated.

“An expenditure of Rs 1 lakh per year has to be borne by the government for every patient. Besides the limited stock of medicines provided by the Centre, there is also a shortage of funds,” said Dr Pradeep Kumar, Additional Project Director, GSACS.