Our CorrespondentLudhiana, July 4
Over 3.5 million Indians are infected with AIDS and the number is rising each year. While developed nations have termed the situation in India as alarming, Punjab has already achieved the distinction of becoming the fourth largest state in the country with HIV infected people. In Ludhiana district, the number of AIDS patients has doubled during the past year. While most of the patients comprise people from the lower strata of society, in Ludhiana many people from the affluent class with promiscuous lifestyle have also got infected.
“There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of HIV positive cases and AIDS patients in Punjab”, says Dr Alka Dogra, Reader and Head of the Department of Dermatology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, and president of the local chapter of the People’s Health Organisation working for AIDS patients.
The statement of Dr Gurinder Singh Toor, chairman, Punjab State Blood Donation Committee, supports the claim when he says, “various surveys have proved that there has been a spurt in the number of AIDS patients in Doaba area of Punjab”.
Apart from most of the truck drivers from Doaba, industrial workers, drug addicts and affluent businessmen have also contracted this deadly disease. “The disease has spread its wings rapidly in the industrial city of Ludhiana. The number of AIDS patients has almost doubled in the current year”, says Dr Dogra.
According to a data available from the Civil Surgeon’s office, in the year 1998, there were 39 confirmed AIDS patients in the entire district and eight out of these were the professional blood donors. The number of patients increased in the year 1999. There were 19 donors and 38 AIDS patients. There were total 62 AIDS patients in the year 2000 out of these 19 were professional blood donors.
Mr Mukhtiar Singh, an official at the CMO office revealed that the number of AIDS patients in Ludhiana district has almost doubled in the past five months. He said there were 31 confirmed patients and three professional donors till May 2001.
The Chief Justice of the Australian High Court and eminent human rights activist, Mr Michael Kirby, during his recent visit to India said, “With such a large number of infected people and thousands of new infections every year, the country will lose a large number of people in the productive age group, if steps are not taken on time”.
Dr Gursharan Singh, president of the local chapter of Indian Medical Association, while talking on the subject said the migrant labourers, drivers and conductors in the city were more prone to contract HIV virus. Dr Gursharan said sophisticated methods for counting Cd4 cells and carrying out blood tests were not available in many developing countries.
He said weight loss of more than 10 per cent of the body weight, continuous fever and chronic diarrhoea for more than a month were the common symptoms of the disease. Other symptoms included persistent cough, dermatitis, fungus infection in the mouth and throat and swelling of lymph glands.
Dr Gursharan said HIV testing was based on antibody based test and the confirmation was based on western bolt (WB) test. He said, “infection may not be detected during the initial three to four weeks of infection because of fewer antibodies. The infection turns acute in about 22 to 27 days.
Dr Gursharan said there was a need to educate the masses. He also stressed the need for providing essential drugs at low rate to HIV infected persons.
Interestingly, while the world is looking for a cure to the dreaded disease, a local inventor Rachhpal Singh Gill claims to have developed a technique to produce an anti-AIDS vaccine. The vaccine prepared by using his technique will produce enough antibodies in four months to resist the infection. He says he is willing to share his “product” on humanitarian grounds with any agency that would produce it for free distribution. The vaccine produced by his technique will be totally safe, he claims.
