ALERT! Child in dire straits while doctors pass the buck!

CHAPRA, BIHAR: When 25 year old Uma Devi (name changed) went to get ART medicines for her child she was told that the ARV 9anti-retroviral) medications are out of stock. This is despite the state government’s assurance to the High Court that adequate stocks of ARV will be maintained. The child last had a dose of medicine on May 3. The worst part is that the Nodal officer at the district hospital in Chapra refused to accept a written petition from the widow, which states that the medicine was not available. this is how the people in charge indulge in buck-passing. The child is on ARV since 2011. If the medicines are not taken daily, then there will be complications. The CD 4 count of the child [ascertained through a blood test] has dropped to 311 from 1100 in January.

Bihar State AIDS Society personnel state they are helpless because the head office at Patna hasn’t arranged for supplies.

At the ART Centre in Chapra, for the pst five days there has been no medicine distributed for opportunistic infections.

How does one get the service providers to do their jobs, ask the frustrated people. the Nodal Officer refuses to comment. Ask the civil surgeon, he says.

-A citizen Report by Sanjeet Singh

  AIDS, Chapra, HIV