The Punjab AIDS Control Programme (PACP) is running nine consultative and 13 diagnostic centers for diagnosis and treatment of HIV/AIDS while there are four centers working for controlling transmission of HIV virus from the infected pregnant women to their expected babies.
"Punjab is the only province where PC-I of HIV/AIDS control is approved up-to 2019," Punjab Minister for Primary & Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir said this while addressing an awareness seminar regarding HIV/AIDS organised by Punjab AIDS Control Programme in connection with the World AIDS Day at a local hotel on Wednesday.
Nazir said that since 1998 to date 11,295 HIV positive cases have surfaced in Punjab and so far PACP has registered 7,742 HIV AIDS patients whose treatment expenses were being met by the Punjab government. Nazir said the anti-viral medicines which are used by the AIDS patients are very costly and not available in the open market. He disclosed that PACP has started to prepare a data bank of infection careers for which screening of truck drivers and cleaners has been started from the truck stand at Babu Sabu.
He said the government has launched a comprehensive programme to prevent blood borne diseases for which special attention is being paid to hospital waste management, controlling of reuse of disposable syringes and creating awareness for barbers and dentists.
Meanwhile, Punjab Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Kh Salman Rafique while presiding over 12th steering committee meeting of Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center (PKLI) reiterated that close co-ordination of PKLI with various government departments is of utmost importance and must be carried out on regular basis.